A Rift in Time
by elvishmockingbird
Summary: While Sara struggles with her feelings after ending things with Ava, vacation shenanigans lead the new Legends to discover the story of Leonard Snart. With some help from Team Flash, they find a way to bring him back. But saving Snart has an unexpected effect on the timeline that the Legends now need to fix. Captain Canary. T just to be safe. Longer explanation inside.
1. All Quiet in the Temporal Zone

**(A/N: A longer explanation...The idea behind this fic is to bring Leonard Snart back onto the Waverider with the current team. I really like the fun, lighter tone of the show now, but it still feels like something's missing without Captain Cold (and Captain Canary), so this is an attempt to combine those things together. The overarching plot is going to be pretty long, kind of modeled after what a full season with Leonard around would look like. As for the characters, it takes place shortly after the end of season 4, so the Legends currently on the Waverider include Sara, Ray, Mick, Zari, Nate, Nora, Mona, Constantine, and Charlie. For the purposes of the fic, the team found a way to restore Zari's memory after saving her brother, so she's still on the team instead of Behrad and her personality and backstory is the same. All currently canon relationships (DarhkAtom and Zate/Natari) are in place at the beginning. And, of course, it's a Captain Canary fic!**

**T rating is just to be safe. _Content Warning:_ will probably contain some mentions of abuse in Leonard and/or Lisa's childhoods, but nothing graphic. Disclaimer: I own nothing. Now that you've read all of that, on to the fic...)**

Captain Sara Lance stood on the Waverider bridge, carefully looking over the screen in front of her. It displayed a map, or at least something that most closely resembled a map, of the timeline. She zoomed in with her fingers, then zoomed out again. "Gideon?" she asked aloud.

Gideon's three-dimensional head appeared instantly before her. "Yes, Captain Lance?"

"Can you scan the timeline again?" she asked. "There has to be something missing."

"I would like to remind you, Captain Lance," the A.I. replied, "that you have already asked me to rescan the timeline four times today. If my programs detected any new aberrations, anachronisms, fugitives, or other ruptures in time and space, I would have told you."

"Well, check again," Sara ordered.

"Don't mind her, Gideon," Mick Rory's voice grunted. Sara spun around and saw him leaning against the parlor doorway, a halfway finished bottle of beer in his hand. "She's in a sour mood because the clone dumped her."

"Rory!" Sara exclaimed, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

Mick didn't care. He stood there silently, sipping his beer.

Sara took a deep breath to calm down. "First of all," she said slowly, "you don't get to call Ava a clone. We've been over this. Second, she did not dump me. We realized things weren't working out and ended our relationship like rational adults. And now," she gestured to the screen in front of her, still free of alerts, "I am doing my job as captain of the Waverider."

"Or," Mick suggested, "you're trying to keep yourself busy so that you don't have to think about your ex."

Sara rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, returning her focus to the timeline map. "Since when are you the ship's emotional expert, Mick?"

"Since Rebecca Silver sold her fifth romance novel," he answered. "Guarantee it'll make you weepy."

"Sure it will," she said sarcastically without looking up.

Suddenly, Mona and Charlie burst into the room. Sara and Mick turned to look at them.

"You and Ava broke up?" Mona squealed. "How could you? You two were destiny!"

Sara sighed, exasperated and wanting very much to go back to work. "Who told Mona?"

"Not me, mate," Charlie said, holding up her hands innocently. "I'm no snitch. I was about to say the same thing, though. I mean, come on! I really thought that was going to last."

Sara narrowed her eyes and looked at Charlie. "And who told you, Charlie?"

The shapeshifter shrugged and walked past her captain and into the parlor. "Like I said, mate, I'm no snitch. But hey, I wouldn't worry about it. Pretty girl like you, you'll be back in the game in no time." She opened one of the back cabinets and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "Cheers!" she said, holding it aloft. "To Sara's new single life! May it be as wild as she is!" She opened it and poured it into her mouth, downing nearly half the bottle in one gulp.

"That one's mine, Charlie," Sara reminded her as she stomped up the stairs and pulled the bottle out of her hands.

"Oi, I was toasting you, wasn't I?"

Sara put the bottle back in the cabinet, closed the door, and turned around to see her teammates' eyes staring straight at her. "What?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips with a scowl. "Don't you guys have something better to do than interrogate me about my love life? We've got a ship to run, people."

"But not your and Ava's ship," Mona pointed out, placing her hands over her heart and looking down sadly. "That one sank."

Charlie looked from Mona to Sara. "Ship? I don't get it."

"Don't worry about it," Mick dismissed. "It's dumb."

Sara let her arms drop to her sides, relieved. "Thank you, Rory," she said. "I'm glad someone else has some sense here."

Mick took another swig of his beer. "Yeah, and that clone was pretty brave to dump you. Dumb, but brave. You could totally kick her…"

"Stop calling Ava a clone!" Sara shouted. "And she didn't dump me! We broke up. Both of us. Mutually. And I am completely fine with that, so just drop it!"

Mick, Charlie, and Mona stared at Sara silently, not daring to make a move or sound following her outburst. Finally, Sara broke the silence herself. "Zari's the one who told you, isn't she?" she asked.

"Still no snitch," Charlie answered.

Sara didn't hear her. She was already out of the room, walking quickly to the laboratory to find Zari. She arrived to find her with Nate, Nora, and Ray. The four of them were huddled around a table, appearing intensely focused.

"Am I interrupting a double science date?" she asked.

Ray looked up, smiling at her cheerfully. "Oh, not at all. It's just a little…experiment."

"If that's what you want to call it," Zari muttered.

Curious, Sara walked over to see what they were looking at. It was a one-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle of Beebo, approximately half completed.

"Why…you know what? I don't even want to know," she said.

"We almost have his cuddly tummy," Nate elaborated, "but you'd be surprised how specific that shade of blue is…"

"You do know I could just make that piece appear with magic, right?" Nora reminded him.

"But that would ruin the fun!" the historian insisted as he continued to sift through the pile of small, blue puzzle pieces in front of him.

"Um…right." Sara turned to Zari. "Z, did you tell everyone about…"

"You and Ava breaking up?" Zari completed the question for her. "Guilty, but only because most of them were already pretty close to figuring it out."

Sara groaned. "Ugh, Zari, why would you do that? I only told you because you were the first person I saw, and I specifically said not to say anything. I'm trying to run a time ship, not a middle school gossip chain."

Zari picked up a piece and fit it carefully into Beebo's eye. "I did you a favor, Captain. They were all going to pester you about it until you admitted it."

"So, you just decided to rip the Band-Aid off yourself?"

"Yup. You're welcome."

Nate placed his hand on Sara's shoulder. "Hey, I know it hurts right now," he said comfortingly, "but I'm sure you just need a little time to process it."

Sara brushed his hand off. "It doesn't hurt," she argued. "I am completely fine, and I don't need to process anything."

"Heard that one before," Zari said under her breath.

Sara arched an eyebrow. "What did you say, Z?"

"Nothing, Captain," she denied with an innocent look.

"Sara, I know talking about your feelings isn't natural for you," Ray said calmly, offering her a friendly smile, "but now that the rest of the team knows, we can truly be there for you. Keeping yourself busy might help you avoid thinking about it, but you're surrounded by a team. Wouldn't it be better to just talk about it with people who love you and care about you?"

"No, it would not," she replied. "And I'm not just trying to keep myself busy. I'm trying to do my job."

Nora finally raised her eyes from the half-finished Beebo picture and looked directly at Sara. "Look, we all appreciate how seriously you take being our captain, but come on," she gestured to the Beebo puzzle with her hand. "Do you think we're doing this puzzle for any reason other than being bored out of our minds? There hasn't been a ripple in the timeline in days, nothing on this ship needs repairs, and we've had no special alerts or SOS's. Also, we're in a science lab from the future, so you'd better believe there are plenty of other things to do in here before resorting to Beebo puzzles. No offense," he added with a glance at Nate. She quickly returned her attention to Sara. "You've been checking the timeline map obsessively ever since your last conversation with Ava. If that's how you cope, then fine, but you need to at least admit that's why you're doing it. Going on like this without admitting that is just going to wear you out."

Sara gritted her teeth. She knew, deep down, that it was true. She had often relied on work to keep her mind occupied when dealing with difficult feelings. She also knew that the timeline, by some miracle, was actually clean for once. The team deserved a break, even if she didn't want one. "Fine," she admitted, relaxing her posture as she conceded. "You've got a point about the timeline, at least. We're not accomplishing much by just floating around the temporal zone aimlessly. If you guys want to do something else so badly, we can head back to 2019 and hang out in the present until we get an alert. Happy?"

"Yes!" Ray exclaimed, high-fiving his Time Bro across the table. "You won't regret this, Captain."

Nora mulled it over. "Not exactly what I meant, but if it helps you calm down, I'm all for it."

"Ah! A vacation, love?" John Constantine exclaimed, poking his head in through the door Sara had left open behind her. "Brilliant. Might I suggest a few destinations?"

"Are they all going to be haunted or deadly?" Zari asked.

John thought for a few seconds. "Only about…two-thirds of them."

"No," Sara interjected, stepping into the space between Zari and John. "We are not going to whatever creepy dimension John wants to get us mixed up in." John crossed his arms, looking mildly insulted. Sara continued, "You know what? We're a team, and we're going to decide this like a team. Follow me."

She walked out of the lab to the bridge. Zari, Nate, Ray, Nora, and John followed close behind her. Charlie, Mick, and Mona were all where she had left them, although Charlie had once again found Sara's whiskey. She rushed to hide it away as soon as the captain returned to the room. "Okay, Legends," Sara announced, pretending not to notice just this once, "since we apparently have nothing to do besides jigsaw puzzles and getting into each other's personal business, it looks like we're in need of a little break."

"Vacation?" Mick grunted, slightly interested.

"That's the spirit," Charlie agreed enthusiastically. "Get your mind off that girl with a little fun."

"This isn't about me and Ava," Sara insisted. "This is about us as a team taking a break from floating around in the temporal zone with nothing to do. So, any suggestions?"

"Aruba," Mick said immediately.

"Been there, done that," Zari said. "Aruba was fun, but we have a time traveling space ship. We can literally go anywhere. Why go on the same vacation twice?"

"I agree," Nate nodded. "I'd enjoy some new scenery. Let's go somewhere we haven't been yet."

"Personally, I'd love a trip to the great outdoors," Ray said. "We've been on the Waverider so long, I can barely remember the last time I actually saw real stars. Or trees. Or anything other than the inside of a futuristic spaceship. Which is super awesome, obviously, but…"

Mona raised her hand as Ray trailed off, trying to get Sara's attention. "We should go somewhere really peaceful, you know?" she suggested. "Somewhere we can get space to think and relax. I think it would really help you with…"

Sara help up her hand to cut her off. "Again, this isn't about me and Ava." She gave the suggestion some thought, then added, "Although, peace and quiet isn't a bad idea."

"With this crew," Zari commented snarkily, "there's no way it would last very long."

"I like Ray's idea," Nora said, looking up at her boyfriend with a smile. "Stars would be nice."

Mick took another sip of his beer. "I still vote for Aruba."

"Anywhere, anywhen sounds good to me," Charlie spoke. "As long as there's booze and adventure. Preferably at the same time."

"I'm with the shapeshifter on this one," John nodded as he prepared to light a cigarette, only to have Nora snap her fingers and pull it out of his mouth with her magic. "Bollocks," he grumbled.

Sara looked around the room at the faces of each of her teammates. "Okay…so far we have suggestions for peace and quiet, the great outdoors, somewhere new, and booze."

"And Aruba," Mick added.

Sara thought for a moment. "I've got it!" She walked over to her seat at the front of the bridge and said, "Take some deep breaths, Legends, because we're going to check in on an old friend in one of the calmest, most peaceful places on earth. Gideon, plot a course for Wally West's location, Tibet, 2019!"

The Legends took their seats and strapped in as Sara got in position to pilot the ship. "I still say we should've gone to Aruba," Mick grumbled as the ship time-jumped out of the temporal zone and into the present.


	2. Tibet, 2019

"Guys!" Wally exclaimed as he sped out toward the Waverider that had just appeared in the grassy area downhill from his house, lightning trails flashing behind him. He spotted the team climbing out of the ship and waved at them. "Hey! Legends!"

"Wally!" Nate exclaimed, high-fiving the young speedster. "Good to see you, man."

"You too," he said, following the gesture with a fist bump. "Although, I should probably ask if there's some crazy anachronism you're here to fix…is there?" he asked, looking at Sara.

"Nope," she shook her head. "We don't have any new missions, so we thought we'd take a little time to chill and catch up with you."

Wally smirked. "Well, good luck catching up with the fastest man alive."

"Second fastest," Nate corrected.

Wally shot him an annoyed look, then noticed someone in the group. "Um…is that Nora Darhk?"

Nora waved at him. "Uh…yeah. 'That' is, although I'd prefer 'she'."

"It's a long story," Ray explained. "But I helped her escape the Time Bureau, and then she became a good guy, and then we thought she killed Nate's dad, but it turned out she didn't, and then she helped save me from Hell, and now we're dating. So, you know, it all worked out."

Wally arched an eyebrow. "Wow, what else did I miss?"

"That this is Mona," Sara said, pointing at the youngest Legend, "this is John Constantine, who you might've heard of from Barry and Ollie," she said with a nod in Constantine's direction, "and she's not Amaya," she added, gesturing toward Charlie. "She's a shapeshifter named Charlie."

"Huh," Wally said, nodding slowly as he looked Charlie over, "I thought there was something different about her. Mostly the clothes."

"Yeah, because I actually know how to wear them, mate," Charlie responded, surprising the speedster with her accent. "And, for the record, this doesn't look like my idea of an adventurous vacation," she added with a pointed look at Sara.

"Oh, that's because I haven't shown you around yet!" Wally insisted. "This place is full of adventure if you know where to look. I've been hanging out here for months and I'm still not bored, so that should say something." He gestured up toward the stone staircase that led up the green hill behind him. "Follow me!" He zoomed up the stairs as quickly as he had descended.

"Whoa," Mona gasped, her eyes wide. "He's really fast."

Zari sighed. "Every. Single. Time."

John rolled his eyes. "Bloody show off."

By the time the Legends made it up the stairs and entered the small house they led up to, Wally was already pouring tea into the last of the nine cups he had set out. "Come on in," he urged, welcoming them into the room. "Grab a seat." Various cushions were scattered across the floor. The team looked at each other, shrugged, and sat down.

Wally sped around the room, placing a teacup in each person's hand instantly. Finally slowing down, he poured a cup for himself and sat down cross-legged in front of them. "You guys came at the best time," he said calmly, as if he hadn't just been running zigzags all around them. "It's normally pretty cold up here, but this is the warmest month of the year, so everything's the perfect temperature. There's some snow on the very top of the mountains, of course, but down here, it's nice. Any idea how long you'll be staying?"

"We're leaving as soon as we get an alert," Sara answered quickly.

"Which could be a while," Nate said.

"Or not," Sara added. "We might be getting an alert any second. You never know."

Wally eyed her suspiciously. "Uh huh. Okay then. So…where's Ava?"

The team looked at each other awkwardly.

He broke the silence to continue asking, "Wasn't she with you guys? She's not hurt or anything, right?"

Sara took a deep breath, deciding it would be best for her to explain before someone else on the team could give their version of the story. "The Time Bureau fell apart after our fight with Neron. Ava decided to go back to DC and rebuild it, which is what she's doing now."

Wally detected a slight hint of frustration in Sara's voice. "Is everything good between you guys?" he asked.

"They broke up," Mick interjected.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"I was getting to that, Mick," Sara muttered, trying very hard to restrain herself from lunging across the room and pummeling him.

"Oh, yikes," Wally commented sympathetically. "Been there, and it sucks." He looked out the window behind him at the sunny statue garden. "But, hey, you came to the right place. Traveling and getting some peace of mind to process things is exactly what I did when Jesse broke up with me. It really helped."

"Except it's not like that at all," Sara clarified. "Ava and I made a mutual decision to end our relationship because things just weren't working out. Then, the team decided we needed a vacation. Two completely independent events. And I don't need to process anything." She was suddenly aware of every single pair of eyes in the room looking at her very skeptically. "I don't," she repeated, following her declaration with a sip of her tea.

A long silence followed, which Ray finally decided to break with his typical boyish cheerfulness. "So, Wally," he asked, "how's the hiking around here?"

"Amazing," the speedster answered. "There's a trail that goes up the mountain and you can see everything. The top is literally my favorite meditation spot."

"Meditation?" Charlie arched an eyebrow. "Again, in what universe is this exciting?"

"You literally just watched a speedster run for what I'd guess is the first time in your life," Nate pointed out. "That alone is pretty exciting."

"I'm a magical shapeshifter," she reminded him. "My standards of excitement are a bit higher than that."

"Which is awesome, by the way," Wally interrupted. "Can you literally turn into anything?"

"Anything you want, mate," Charlie said with a wink.

"But only for a limited time," Constantine clarified.

Charlie elbowed him lightly. "And it's getting less limited," she reminded him. "I broke my record just last week."

"Well, good for you, then," Constantine said, returning his focus to his tea.

"And what do you do?" Wally asked Mona, who was sipping her tea quietly on the cushion closest to the wall.

"I…uh…" Mona hesitated to explain, "I…I'm really good with animals?" She paused for a quick moment, then added, "Also I kind of turn into a werewolf."

Wally's eyes widened. "Wait, you're a werewolf? Like, howling at the full moon kind of werewolf?"

"No," she said, shaking her head emphatically. "I'm a human. I just…sometimes turn into Wolfie. Usually just when I get angry or scared."

"Oh," Wally said understandingly. "You're like Caitlin, then. Nice."

"Like who?" Mona asked.

Sara stood up before Wally had a chance to answer. "Well, this is fun," she said, "but I'm going to head down and check up on the timeline. You guys keep doing whatever. I'll call you on comms if I find anything." She headed out the door and down the long, stone staircase toward the Waverider.

Wally peered out the window, watching her go, then turned back to look at the rest of the Legends. "She's not taking the whole break up thing well, is she?" he asked.

"Nope," Zari stated.

"Absolutely not," Nate said at the same time.

"Not at all," Ray answered simultaneously.

"Got it." Wally set down his cup of tea and jumped up to his feet. "Well, I'll try to think of some way to help her out. That's what friends are for, right? In the meantime, let me give you guys the grand tour." He zoomed around the room, picking up everyone's empty teacups, dropped them off on the table behind him, then finally stood still in the doorway. "Come on!"

The Legends looked at each other, then filed out of the house together, following the young speedster out into the sunshine.

* * *

"The timeline is still clear, Captain Lance," Gideon finally stated, revealing an empty map on her screen again.

"That just doesn't feel right," Sara insisted. "It's never this clear. The Time Bureau isn't up and running yet, so it's not like they're taking care of things." She thought for a moment then ordered, "Gideon, scan for other time ships. There must be someone else out there doing our job, and I want to know who it is."

Gideon completed the scan, then replied, "My sensors detect no additional time ship activity. As you are aware, Captain, all ships employed by the Time Masters were destroyed when Mr. Snart blew up the Oculus."

Sara groaned partly out of frustration that her idea had failed, and partly out of the reminder of the Oculus explosion. Its destruction may have been a victory for the Legends, but she'd lost a good friend, almost more than a friend, that day. Or night. Or however time works in the Vanishing Point. Whatever time it had been, she usually tried to avoid thinking about it. "Yes, I know, Gideon."

"Speaking of Mr. Snart," the A.I. continued, "may I make a suggestion?"

Sara arched an eyebrow, curious. "What suggestion would that be?"

"Perhaps you would like to make a call to Mr. Snart's doppelganger on Earth-X," Gideon said. "He might be able to help you process your frustration about Miss Sharpe with some counselling. Hopefully, with fewer puppets than last time."

Sara couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the memory of Leo's ridiculous Professor Stein puppet. "No, Gideon," she said finally, "I'm not going to talk to Leo about Ava. I'm sure he has bigger problems to deal with, and even if he didn't, I don't need to talk about it with him or anyone else." She tapped impatiently on the side of the monitor, then added, "Gideon, scan the timeline again."

"I just did that, Captain."

"And I just told you to do it again."

Gideon obeyed. After a few minutes, she revealed the same map again. "The timeline is still clear, Captain."

Sara sighed. Of course the one time she actually wanted to keep herself busy would also be the one time the timeline didn't need saving. Just my luck, she thought.

"If you do not wish to call Mr. Snart's doppelganger," Gideon suggested, breaking Sara's silence, "perhaps it would do you some good to get some fresh air. I believe Dr. Palmer mentioned something about the great outdoors."

Sara crossed her arms and smirked. "You trying to get rid of me, Gideon?"

"Only if it helps," Gideon answered. "You know what Dr. Palmer says. Happy captain, happy ship."

"I can't believe that's actually catching on," Sara muttered. She dropped her arms and spoke to Gideon again, "Maybe in a little bit, Gideon. I think I'll wait in my room for a few minutes first, just in case something happens. If you detect anything, please alert me immediately. Don't worry about interrupting."

"Of course, Captain."

Sara strolled down the hallway until she found her room. She stepped inside, shut the metal door behind her, and flopped on her bed. She felt exhausted, despite not having much reason to be. It was as if the lack of work was draining her more than any amount of real work normally would. In the back of her mind, a thought surfaced that the thing draining her might actually be her emotions, but she immediately pushed that thought back as far as she could. That couldn't be it.

She stood up and began going through the miscellaneous content of the drawers beside her bed. She wasn't looking for anything in particular. It was more an effort to stay busy and awake than anything else. There had to be something in there to keep her mind occupied. Here was the box of cigarettes she had confiscated from Constantine last week, only for him to get ahold of a new one the very next day. There was the funky pair of sunglasses she'd taken from Woodstock as a "souvenir." In the next drawer down was the tiny Lego version of herself that Ray had built as part of her birthday present last year. He'd done the same for the rest of the team and was working on making a full-scale Waverider replica for all of them, although he didn't have enough pieces to finish it yet.

Her hand stopped as they touched a small cardboard box she recognized. She pulled it out and stared at it. A small smile that mixed fondness and sadness crossed her face. It was Leonard's card deck. He'd left it in her room before the Oculus explosion. He must've thought he'd be coming back for another game. She wasn't sure why she'd kept it so long. She rarely played cards now. It just felt wrong to get rid of it, the same way it would have felt wrong to get rid of all his coats.

Sara sat back down on her bed, turning the little box around in her hands. She'd never told Ava that she still had Leonard's cards. In fact, she'd barely told Ava anything about Leonard at all, except that he was a former teammate who died a hero. She'd always assumed Ava would've found it silly to be so sentimental about a dead criminal, especially one she'd only known for less than a year.

"I wonder what you would've said about Ava," she asked aloud, looking down at the box. "You probably would've thought she was too uptight, huh? Or played by too many rules? I imagine you wouldn't have cared much for any of the Time Bureau agents at all. Well, she wasn't so bad," she said, looking up wistfully, "just didn't end up being the right one, you know?"

She looked around her silent, empty room. Gideon hadn't alerted her of anything, so she had to assume the scan had once again revealed no new damage to the timeline. She had to find something to keep her mind busy, anything. She looked down at the cards again. "All right, let's do this."

She opened the box and began to set up the cards in the space in front of her, preparing a game of solitaire. It would keep her occupied for at least long enough to think of something else to do. Besides, something about it just felt right. Somehow, for reasons she couldn't quite explain, sitting cross-legged on her bed with Leonard's cards spread out in front of her, Sara felt just a little bit less alone.

* * *

Mona lay on her stomach in the middle of the sculpture garden, staring at the small pond in front of her. She propped herself up on her elbows as she spotted a particularly large fish swimming near the surface. "Hey, little guy," she whispered, waving her fingers at it. "What's your name, Mr. Fish?"

"It's a bloody fish," Charlie's voice said from behind her. Mona sat up and turned around to see the shapeshifter standing toweringly over her. "It's probably named something dumb, like Bubbles or Splashy."

"Charlie! You scared me," Mona said. "I thought you went to meditate with Constantine and Wally."

"That got old quick, mate. Breathe in, breathe out, blah blah blah, I get it. I know how to breathe."

Mona glanced at the pond to see that the fish had already swum away. She returned her attention to Charlie. "Then what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Looking for Mick," Charlie said with a shrug. "The couples went on their little hike and the captain's off having her alone time to brood over Ava. I don't know what Mick is up to, but it probably involves burning things and is definitely more exciting than any of the other options I'm seeing."

"Oh." Mona looked around the garden. "I haven't seen him, but you can always sit here with me if you like."

"Doing…what, exactly?"

"Oh, you know. Enjoying the garden, looking at the statues, checking out all the fish…"

"I said I wanted to be less bored," Charlie interrupted. "Stay here and play with the fish all you want, but I'm going to find Mick and set something ablaze."

She exited the sculpture garden and continued walking down the path toward Wally's house. The whole area was quiet and serene, filled with cool, breezy air. The mountain peaks in the distance were bright orange, reflecting the approaching sunset. Even Charlie had to admit that it was a lovely sight, but that didn't make her any less impatient to find some action.

"Mick?" she called out, slipping through the door into Wally's home. There was no answer, so she walked further in and asked again, "You in here, mate?"

Still nothing. "Bollocks," Charlie groaned.

"What are you doing here?" Wally's voice asked.

Charlie spun around, surprised to see him. "Oi, watch it, speedster!" she exclaimed.

Wally took a step back and responded calmly, "Hey, it's my house, shapeshifter. Are you looking for something?"

"I'm looking," Charlie answered, crossing her arms, "for a little fun. Nothing personal, but meditation isn't exactly doing it for me."

"Okay," he replied. "What would be fun for you, then?"

Charlie thought about it. "Got any bars around here?" she finally asked.

"There's one a few miles north," he answered. "Sara used to hang out there before she joined the Legends. But I couldn't tell you how to get there. I haven't been."

Charlie smirked. "Oh, so you're as boring as this place, then."

"First of all," Wally held a finger up defensively, "quiet doesn't mean boring. Second, I haven't been there because, as a speedster, the stuff they have doesn't exactly work on me."

The shapeshifter looked him over curiously. "Your metabolism," she surmised. "You move around so much, nothing sticks to you."

"Bingo."

Charlie leaned back against the wall behind her. "Sucks, mate."

"Not really," Wally explained. "My friend, Cisco, made me this stuff called Rocket Fuel. It's the only kind of alcohol strong enough to affect a speedster."

Charlie's eyes lit up. "Rocket Fuel. Now that sounds like some real fun. Where've you got it?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, shaking his head. "Not so fast. It's strictly for speedsters only. Rip had some once, and it totally messed him up. I'm talking crazy long hangovers, like, for days."

"Ha!" she scoffed. "I'm a bloody shapeshifter, you idiot! Not only am I a magical creature, but I am subject to exactly none of the biological limits of human bodies. Do you really think I'm as much of a lightweight as your former boss?"

Wally hesitated. "No, but it's still not a good idea. Besides, I only have so much, and if I have to ask Cisco for more, then I have to run to Central City, and honestly who knows what they're up to now over there…"

"I've got an idea," Charlie interrupted. "You want to see my powers work, yeah? Why don't I show you a few of my tricks, and in exchange, you show me where you've got that Rocket Fuel stashed away."

"What? No. No, I'm not doing that."

Charlie stepped away from the wall and inched toward him, smiling mischievously. "So responsible, speedster," she teased. "And here I thought you were one of the laidback ones."

"I am, usually," Wally defended himself, "but I don't even know you, okay? I can't just give one of the strongest substances on earth to someone I literally just met."

"And how long did you know Rip before you gave it to him?"

Wally hesitated for a second. "Well…he kind of took it from me." He took in Charlie's smug expression, then added, "Which is why I don't do that anymore. Why do you want it so badly, anyway?"

"Because I'm bored," she answered matter-of-factly. "Sara promised me an adventure, and I haven't seen much of one yet. I don't necessarily have to drink to have one, but I'm running out of other options."

Wally thought silently. Finally, he replied, "I have a better idea. I've been traveling the world for most of the past couple years, and it's been pretty sick. You like crazy adventurous stuff, so why don't I tell you all the crazy adventurous situations I've gotten into? And then you could show me your powers too, like you were saying."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Story time? Really, mate?"

He leaned in toward her with an offer he knew would be tempting. "I'll tell you about the time I fought a giant evil starfish from space."

The shapeshifter arched her eyebrows. "Giant evil starfish?"

"From space," he repeated with emphasis.

Charlie considered the offer. It wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind, but at this point, finding Mick seemed unlikely. Plus, the longer she was with Wally, the better chance she had of deducing the location of his Rocket Fuel. She also really did want to hear about that starfish. A smile of acceptance gradually crossed her face. "Sounds like a plan, speedster."


	3. Tibet, 2019, continued

"That was so nice," Ray commented as the two Legends couples descended from the hiking trail to the main path. "Wally was right, this really was the best time of year to come."

"Yeah, it was," Nora agreed. She looked up at the sky, then continued, "It's getting dark. We should probably head back to the Waverider."

Ray grabbed her hand excitedly as an idea popped into his head. "Hey, once it's dark, we can go stargazing! Wouldn't that be amazing? I haven't done that in ages."

"Stargazing?" Nora repeated, amused. Ray's wholesome enthusiasm for the simple things was one of the traits that set him apart from almost everyone else in her life. Occasionally, she thought it was silly. However, most times, she thought it was sweet, including this one. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

Nate nodded. "Sounds fun, bro. Hey, you think Sara's doing okay? Maybe if she's feeling better, we could invite her to join us."

"I doubt it," Zari replied. Nate gave her a look. "I mean, not yet," she clarified. "Sara likes to keep all her feelings buried as deep as she can. I do the same thing, so no judgment here. But, until she lets them out, she's not going to be completely okay, and I'm saying that from experience."

"I'm sure she just needs time," Ray said. "She and Ava were pretty serious. I still can't believe they broke up. Hey, look!" He was suddenly distracted by something beside the path. Kneeling down, he picked up a beautiful white flower and handed it to Nora. "Something pretty this way comes," he joked.

"Aw, Ray," Nora smiled, blushing at she took the flower. She knew it was cheesy, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it.

Zari folded her arms and looked at Nate. "What?" he asked.

"I guess you didn't see any flowers on your side of the road, huh?" she said in a voice too deadpan for Nate to discern whether she was being serious or joking.

"I…um…" he tried to think of an answer.

Zari chuckled and elbowed him playfully. "I'm kidding, dork. You're good."

Nate relaxed, relieved that he wasn't in trouble.

Something rustled in the bushes beside the path. The four Legends froze and looked around but saw nothing unusual. "Probably just a bird," Nate said with a shrug.

They took a step forward. It rustled again, louder this time. Then a third time, even louder.

"Okay, that? That is not a bird," Nate declared, moving closer to the others.

A fourth rustle, louder still, with additional ominous grunting sounds.

Nate steeled up. Zari placed her finger over her air totem, ready to use it. Ray reached for the tiny suit in his pocket. Nora placed her hands together, remembering her spells.

Someone burst out of the bushes.

"Aarrgh!" he yelled.

"Aah…wait, Mick?" Ray asked, dropping his guard.

"What?" Mick growled.

Nate returned to his normal composition. Zari and Nora dropped their arms and relaxed.

"Dude," Zari scolded, "were you trying to scare us? Not cool."

"I'm not the one who almost attacked a teammate," he countered.

Ray arched an eyebrow. "Why were you sneaking around like that, Mick?"

"I wasn't sneaking, Haircut. I got caught in those bushes and was trying to go back."

"Back to what?" asked Nate.

Mick brushed a twig off his shoulder. "Burning stuff."

Zari rolled her eyes. "Should've guessed."

"Yeah, well," Mick replied, "sure beats whatever dumb, touchy-feely waste of time you guys were doing."

Nate frowned. "Mick, we're trying to have some nice, relaxing time off…"

"I know," Mick cut him off. "I am relaxed. Burning stuff relaxes me."

Nora stepped into the center of the small circle of teammates that had formed. "We can argue about how best to relax later," she said. "Right now, we need to get back to the ship. I'm sure the others are there already."

"Fine," Mick huffed. He filed in with the rest of the group as they began walking down the path again toward the ship. "Back to the one place where I can't burn stuff. Fun."

* * *

"And that's how I sent it back into space," Wally concluded his story.

Charlie sat across from him, leaning her back against the wall. "Ha! Who knew starfish could be so deadly? Good story, mate."

"I know, right? Now it's your turn."

Charlie tilted her head. "I'm not a trick pony, speedster."

Wally scooted an inch closer to her. "Come on, you said you'd show me. Just one?"

Charlie thought about it. "All right. You're lucky it was a good story." She stood up and stretched her arms in preparation. "I'm technically banned from doing this one on the ship, but seeing how it's just us…"

The outline of her body glowed red as she changed into the shape of Captain Sara Lance in her White Canary suit. "Okay, Legends," she said, mimicking her captain's voice with exaggerated enthusiasm, "let's go save the timeline from demons or monsters or whatever!"

Wally laughed. "That's really good! What did you do to get that one banned?"

Charlie shrugged, still using Sara's voice and body. "One too many cases of mistaken identity," she explained nonchalantly. "I may have ordered the Time Bros to do some rather ridiculous things by convincing them that Gideon had told me they were essential to protecting the timeline."

Wally facepalmed, imagining Ray and Nate complying with her orders. "How ridiculous?"

"Nothing they couldn't recover from," she answered. "But now there's an official rule that says, 'no shapeshifting into or impersonating the captain.'"

Wally nodded slowly. "That's probably a good rule to have. No offense."

Charlie shifted back into her typical, Amaya-shaped form. "Yeah, probably. It was a lot more fun without it, though," she added with a laugh. Her powers had grown strong enough since defeating Neron that it didn't take as much out of her to shapeshift as it had before, even if she could still only hold it temporarily. It had also been a while since she'd shapeshifted just for fun, and she was enjoying it almost as much as Wally. "Here's another one," she volunteered.

Her body glowed red again as she changed into the shape of Gary Green. "Hello there," she said, imitating Gary's speech and mannerisms. "Let's play Dungeons and Dragons. Where's my nipple?" She placed her hand above her eyes as if searching for it in the distance.

Wally laughed a bit, then stopped himself, confused. "Wait, what happened to Gary's nipple?"

Charlie, still shaped like Gary, answered, "Honestly, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." She switched back into her usual shape and said in her normal voice, "That really was fun. Now about that Rocket Fuel…where've you got it?"

Wally shook his head, still smiling in amusement from Charlie's impressions. "Come on, I said I wasn't giving you any."

"Thought you might've changed your mind," she replied.

"Well, I haven't."

"Uh-huh." She shapeshifted again, this time into Wally West's form. "You see this?" she asked him in his own voice. "This is what a boring person looks like."

Wally stood up and pointed at her. "No way. That is freaky. You need to stop that right now."

"Or what? You'll fight yourself?"

"I…uh…I don't know. Maybe."

Charlie ignored his confused attempt at a threat. "Now, if I were a bottle of Rocket Fuel, where would I be?" She stepped past him and looked around, paying close attention to her new eye level. "Somewhere easy for me to reach, no doubt. Can't imagine you finding much else to do around here. Funny thing about shapeshifting is I keep my own brain, but I can still understand what it's like to think with a body like yours. Let's see here…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Wally said, following after her as she explored the next room of his small house, which happened to be the kitchen. "Slow down, okay? You're not going to find it."

Charlie reached into the back of a shelf and sorted through its contents with her hands, looking quickly at each label. "And why is that, speedster?"

Wally reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small flask. "Because it's right here."

Charlie spun around and changed back into her usual form. "So it is," she said, pulling out two glasses from the shelf to her right. "Let's get this started, then."

"No, 'we' are not doing anything," Wally protested. "You're not a speedster. There's no telling what it could do to…hey!"

Before he knew what was happening, Charlie's hands reached for the flask he was holding and whisked it away. "And I thought you were the second fastest man alive," she joked, pouring it into each of the glasses in front of her.

"Careful!" he snatched the flask back out of her hands and tucked it back into his pocket, then looked at the portions she'd poured into each glass. It wouldn't have been much for any other drink, but this wasn't any other drink. This was Rocket Fuel. "You really don't need that much."

"Of course I don't," she said, picking one glass up with each hand. "But I want it." She handed him the glass in her left hand. "Don't be so hard on yourself, speedster. I'm a tricky one to catch. Now, let's you and me make up and have a drink together like friends, yeah?"

Wally hesitated, still not taking the glass. "Friends?"

"Yeah, mate," Charlie replied. "You're not such a bad bloke, and apparently you can hold your own against a deadly alien starfish. You just need to loosen up a bit. Break a few more rules, you know?" She threw a genuinely friendly smile at him, then continued, "Listen, Wally West, I like you. I do. I'd also like a friend who I can break a few rules with when Mick isn't around, and it seems like you could use a little friendship yourself after spending so much time out here all alone."

The young speedster relaxed a little. It was true. Aside from Joe West's brief visit, he hadn't seen his friends from S.T.A.R. Labs or the Legends in a long time. He'd only known Charlie for a few minutes, but she already seemed like one of the coolest people he'd ever met, if "person" was even the right word for what she was. Plus, despite his protests, he'd never been very good at playing the strict, by-the-book role in any of his previous teams and was already starting to feel himself falter. "Maybe you're right about all that," he admitted, taking the glass warily. "But are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Absolutely," she replied. "What better way to start a friendship than sharing by a drink?" She lifted her glass up to his eye level as if preparing to make a toast.

Wally looked at it, then her. Finally, he gave in. "Okay, but if you wake up tomorrow with the worst hangover of your life," he told her as he lifted his glass to match hers, "you'd better not say I didn't warn you."

The two glasses of Rocket Fuel met as their holders clinked them together. "Cheers, speedster!" Charlie said before downing her glass in one gulp. Wally did the same. This was going to be an exciting night indeed.

* * *

Sara heard a knock on her door and opened her eyes. She'd fallen asleep after several games of solitaire, but her assassin training had taught her to be a light sleeper. She sat up and called out, "Who is it?"

"It's me, love," John Constantine's voice answered. "Can I come in?"

She replied, "Yeah, sure."

The door slid open and the British man sauntered in. "Bad game?" he asked, looking down at the cards, which were now scattered all over her bed.

She scooped them up and began restacking them into a deck. "No, I just got tired. What do you want, John?"

"Nothing," he said with a shrug. "Just thought I'd let you know that the others are all back on the ship, except for Charlie and Wally. No one knows where they are, so it's most likely they're off somewhere doing something incredibly stupid together. Also, Ray has found a local Tibetan recipe and insists on cooking it for a team dinner while refusing any help from Gideon. So, if the ship burns down in the next hour or so, that would be why."

"Good to know."

"Yeah. And finally, I thought I'd ask…how are you holding up?"

She laughed a little, trying to deflect any concern he had. "Holding up? Pfft. I'm holding up great. Just great."

His brow furrowed. "You just took us on a vacation to your own old stomping grounds, and then spent the entire day on the ship alone playing cards, sleeping, and, I'm assuming, checking the timeline."

Sara slid off her bed and stood up. "Yeah, well," she said, "this is supposed to be a relaxing trip. I relaxed. I just happened to do it on the ship while you were all outside."

"Right." John pulled out a cigarette. Sara plucked it out of his fingers immediately. He groaned, then continued, "Look, Sara, I understand. Ava wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but she did grow on me, and I know she was important to you."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Honestly, why does everyone think all I do is think about Ava? I don't know how many more times and ways I can say it, but I am completely fine, John."

"Relationships are rough, love," he said, completely ignoring what she'd just said, "especially for people like us. We're not normal and we don't live normal lives. Not even close."

"That I can agree with," she said, remembering all the impossible adventures she'd had with her team.

"So, it stands to reason," Constantine continued, "that when you get a taste of something nice and normal, you like it and you want to keep it as long as you can. But then, one day, you lose that nice, normal thing. And, when you do, you remember that you're not normal at all, and might never get to have nice, normal things. Sometimes that hurts just as much as losing the thing itself." He took a step toward her. "Am I right?"

Sara looked down, then back up at her friend. "I thought I'd lost my chance at a real relationship before Ava came around," she said, her answer practically a confession. "First Oliver, then Nyssa, then Oliver again…no matter how strong my feelings were, it just never worked out in the end." She glanced for a second at the cards she was still holding. "There was someone else, too, before I met Ava. Someone who really could've worked out. But then I lost him. We didn't even get the chance to be…anything, really. And when that happened, I thought that was it. I just wasn't meant for this."

"Until Ava," Constantine said.

"Until Ava," Sara nodded. "This is on me, really. I should've known better. It's like you said, John. We're not meant for nice, normal things. It was dumb to think things would be different this time, and it's even dumber to dwell on it now."

"What are you saying, love?"

"I'm saying that I'm the White Canary and the captain of the Waverider," she replied. "That's who I am, and it's not normal. So, I'm not going to sit around and think about how close I got to having something normal. I'm going to do my very abnormal job with my very abnormal team." She paused, then added emphatically, "And that means I don't need the team constantly asking me if I'm okay or if I need to process my feelings. There's nothing to process. It's over, I'm not thinking about it, and I'm fine. End of story."

John tilted his head thoughtfully. "If I'm being honest," he said after a moment, "I'm not sure if that's the message I was going for, or if I completely believe that little declaration of yours at the end there. But I do believe it's progress, so I'll take it." He walked toward the door and, just before walking out, turned his head back to say, "By the way, Mona made us all draw straws to see who would have this conversation with you, and I got the short one. I'm not supposed to tell you that, but you should probably know."

Sara smirked. "Oh, so you wouldn't have talked to me at all on your own, then," she joked. "Thanks for clarifying. Wouldn't want people to think you care, would you?"

"Doesn't matter to me what people think," he replied. "You're right, though. I probably wouldn't have walked in here to talk if not for that short straw. But the point is, I still chose to join in when Mona suggested this whole thing, and so did everyone else. Well, everyone except Charlie and Wally, but honestly, who knows where they are now?"

"So?"

"So, you've got a team that cares about you, Sara," he concluded. "If you feel like everything's weighing on your shoulders, you're surrounded by people willing to share the burden. Don't forget that." On that note, he slipped out the door, letting it shut silently behind him.

* * *

"I told you the Englishman was a bad choice," Mick grumbled to his teammates around the table after hearing Constantine's report.

"At least she opened up a bit," John countered. "I doubt you'd have done any better."

"Yeah, Mick," Zari agreed. "Your whole idea was just to burn anything and everything left on the ship connected to Ava."

"It would be…therapeutic," Mick said, taking a moment to remember the correct word.

"Dinner's ready!" Ray exclaimed, interrupting their conversation with a heaping tray of local Tibetan food. "Who's hungry?"

Mick eyed it carefully. "You did good, Haircut," he observed. "Looks edible."

"That's your standard?" Nate asked.

Nora offered Ray a smile and patted his arm supportively. "It looks better than edible, Ray," she assured him, "and it smells delicious."

"Agreed," Mona said. She looked around the table. "So…everyone's here except Wally, Charlie, and Captain Lance."

"Yeah, well, I told the captain that dinner was being made," John reminded her, "so if she doesn't come over, she's either not hungry or afraid of Ray's culinary exploits." He turned to look at Ray and added, "No offense, sweetheart. I'm sure you did great."

"You know," Ray warned, "one of these days, I'm going to get really tired of you guys roasting me so much. Not today, and probably not tomorrow, but one day."

Zari and John exchanged skeptical looks. "Yeah…one day," John said, not sounding very convinced.

"Sure you will," Zari said simultaneously, knowing exactly how unlikely that was.

"Haha," Mick chuckled. "Roasting."

"If you're all going to sit here and roast Ray," Sara's voice came from the kitchen doorway, "you'd better not start without me."

The team turned their heads around to see their captain awake and smirking mischievously as she walked into the kitchen and took her seat at the table. She picked up a piece of food from Ray's tray and tasted it. After chewing it slowly, she leaned back in her chair and said, "I have no idea what this is, but it's not half bad. Good job, Ray."

"Thank you, Captain," he said, visibly relieved that someone liked it. "You know what they say…"

"Happy captain, happy ship," the entire table finished for him.

"Ha!" he smiled as he sat down beside Nora. "I knew it was catching on!"

The team dug in and served themselves. "Should we save some for Charlie and Wally?" Mona asked.

"No!" Mick grunted, his plate nearly overflowing. "If you're not here, you don't eat." He noticed Mona's disappointed face. "What? We live on a spaceship from the future," he reminded her. "They can eat whatever they want when they get back."

"True," Sara said. "Does anyone know where they are?"

"Not a clue," said Zari.

"I'm sure they're fine," Nate assured. "They're adults. They wouldn't do anything too stupid."

"A speedster and a shapeshifter running loose in the Tibetan mountains," Nora said with a hint of sarcasm. "What could go wrong?"

"Well, I hope they're not gone too long," Ray commented, "because we were all talking about going stargazing after this and I'd hate for them to miss it. Would you like to join us, Captain?"

"Stargazing," Sara said, mulling the idea over. She didn't particularly feel like going out, but maybe it would be nice to spend a little more time with the team, especially after what Constantine had said. "Sounds nice," she finally said. "Why not?"

"Great!" Ray exclaimed. "I'll point out all the constellations. You know, I remember earning the astronomy merit badge back in…"

Sara only half listened to his story about his Boy Scout days. The other half of her mind observed her teammates sitting together, eating, talking, laughing, and fighting over the last helping of food. Maybe Constantine had a point, to an extent. She certainly didn't feel like bringing her feelings to the surface, let alone talking any more about them than she already had, but this team, with all its quirks and abnormalities, was a family. Her family.


	4. Rocket Fuel

Around ten o'clock at night, the Waverider was completely dark and silent. Its inhabitants were out stargazing on top of a nearby hill. That is, almost all of its inhabitants.

Wally West vibrated through the cargo door, stumbled a little, then pressed the button to open it for Charlie. "Did you see that?" he asked, still a little off balance. "I totally phased!"

"Yeah you did, mate!" Charlie shouted, slurring her words slightly. She slapped him unnecessarily hard on the arm as soon as she got inside. "Straight through the bloody wall!"

"Shh…" Wally shushed her. "The Legends might hear us."

"So what?" she asked, still speaking just as loudly. "Afraid they'll think we're drunk?"

"We are drunk," he whispered. "We're, like, really, really drunk."

"Psh," she dismissed. "You mean you are. Whoa!" She almost fell over but leaned against the wall to stop herself. She started laughing. "Rocket Fuel! What a creation!"

"I know, right?" the speedster agreed. "Cisco's the absolute bomb."

"Thanks, Cisco!" Charlie shouted.

"Not so loud!"

"Thanks, Cisco," she whispered.

The two of them wandered from the cargo bay to the bridge, trying their best not to disturb their teammates despite their fits of drunken giggles. Once they got there, they realized they were alone.

"Gideon?" Charlie asked. "Where did everyone go?"

"The other Legends have joined Dr. Palmer for a stargazing expedition," the A.I. answered. "Might I suggest you two sit down? You seem to be a bit out of control at the moment."

"Oh, mind your own business, you bloody robot," Charlie said, dismissing Gideon's suggestion with a wave of her hand.

Wally's eyes widened. "Dude," he gasped, "I just had the best idea."

"What?"

"We should do karaoke!"

"Like, with singing?"

"Yeah!" He gave her two thumbs up, then made a fist with one hand as if holding a microphone. "I'm never gonna dance again," he sang, posing dramatically. "Guilty feet ain't got no rhythm…your turn!" He passed her the invisible microphone.

Charlie took it. "I don't know that one, mate."

Wally looked scandalized. "How? How do you not know that one?"

She shrugged. "The last decade I spent more than a week in was the 70s."

Wally had to admit that was a fair excuse. "Okay, sing something else, then."

Charlie shut her eyes and sang into the imaginary microphone, "This is ground control to Major Tom…You've really made the grade…And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear…Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare…"

"Sick!" Wally said, applauding her. "That was so good."

"It felt appropriate," she said, "being on a spaceship and all."

"Oh, totally." He paused, then exclaimed, "Wait, I have another idea! Hold on!" Lightning flashed as he zoomed away from Charlie and around the corridors of the ship. She couldn't see him but could hear him bump into at least a couple of walls on his way. In only a few seconds, he returned. "I just set up Zari's console in the parlor. There's a good screen in there."

"You took it out of her room?" Charlie asked, shocked. "She's not going to be happy, mate."

"Yeah, but that's tomorrow's problem. We're breaking rules tonight, right?"

"Absolutely!" She jumped on his back and clasped her hands around his neck. "Let's go, speedster!"

"Woohoo!" Wally shouted as he sped the two of them in circles before finally crossing the short distance to the parlor in barely a moment.

Charlie let go of Wally and stumbled in a miniature circle until she found her balance. "Are you good?" Wally asked. "Diggle usually pukes when I do that with him."

"I'm not bloody Diggle," she scoffed, finally standing up straight. "I don't even know bloody Diggle."

"You'd like him. He's chill." Wally pulled up two chairs in front of the screen. "So, Ms. Pac-Man or Guitar Hero?"

Charlie grabbed her seat next to him. "Guitar Hero," she decided. "I'll mop the floor with you on that one. I used to be lead guitar in a band, you know."

"We'll see about that," Wally said, accepting the challenge.

After a very long, intense competition, the final scores appeared on the screen, with Wally's name above Charlie's.

"Not fair!" Charlie huffed. "Your fingers are too fast. You speedster-ed all over it."

"Haters gonna hate," Wally joked, holding up his Guitar Hero guitar and moving his hands up and down its buttons with lightning fast speed. He fell down on the floor and continued pretending to play while lying on his back. "Dude," he said, looking up at Charlie from the floor, "what if we started, like, a Legends band?"

"Ha! No way," Charlie laughed. "I think they already did that when Amaya was around. Bloody disco." She made a disgusted face.

"Okay, but if we did," Wally persisted, "who would play what? You actually play guitar, so that would be you, right?"

"Yeah, sure." She thought for a moment, then added, "Zari told me she learned to play violin. It's not a typical band instrument, but it could be sort of a special thing, you know?"

"For sure! Would Nate play drums? I feel like Nate would play drums."

"I could picture that. But who would play bass? And keys? And who's singing?"

"You're really going through the whole list, aren't you?"

"It was your bloody idea. I'm just running with it."

Wally laughed, then looked up at the screen, which still listed their scores. "Uh-oh," he observed. "I think I might've beaten Zari's high score."

"Oi, she's going to kill you, isn't she?" Charlie commented.

"Nah," Wally said, dismissing her concern, "Zari and I are tight."

Charlie shook her head. "Don't underestimate her protectiveness of Guitar Hero." She stood up and walked toward the center of the room where there was more space, stepping over Wally to get there. He shifted around so that he was sitting up and looking at her but did not get off the floor. Charlie shapeshifted into the form of Zari Tomaz, crossed her arms, and looked down at him with a frustrated expression. "Wally, did you beat my high score again?" she asked, mimicking her friend's mannerisms perfectly. "If you touched Ms. Pac-Man too, I swear I will end you."

Wally giggled. "You do a great Zari."

"Thank you," she said, switching back into Amaya's shape. As soon as she returned to her usual form, she held her stomach and looked very close to losing her balance. "Whoa…I'm okay," she finally said, straightening up. "Been a long time since I last shifted drunk. Feels weird."

"Maybe you shouldn't do it again," Wally suggested.

"No, no, it's fine," she assured him. "I feel fine. I just need to get used to it. Let's try good old Rage." She transformed herself into Ray Palmer's body and strutted around the parlor. "Wow! Everything is amazing! Look at this nerd thing," she said as she picked up one of Nate's history books, then set it down again and returned to wandering the room, narrowly avoiding crashing into a large globe on the captain's desk. In doing so, she spun around clumsily and caught a glimpse of something sitting on the opposite bookshelf. It looked like a small picture frame. "I don't remember seeing that before," she commented curiously.

She walked over to take a look. Wally scrambled to his feet and sped across the room so that he was beside her. It was, in fact, a picture frame. It also had a picture inside. The picture was of a group of people dressed in clothes that could have come straight out of an old Western movie. Charlie recognized one face immediately. "Why look," she pointed out, "it's Rage in a cowboy hat. Ha! Fancy that." She shifted her appearance to match Ray's outfit in the photo. "And there's Mick," she continued, looking around the faces of the crowd, "and that looks like the captain." She looked quizzically at Wally. "Who are these other blokes?"

Wally picked up the picture. "The original Legends," he explained. "I think this was from their first big mission together. They were fighting this Vandal Savage dude and Rip was their captain." He looked over the faces and added, "This was way before I joined, so I don't really know what they were like then or what they did. I mean, I kind of knew Jax and Professor Stein from before, but not that well. Apparently, they went to the Old West at least once. Cool, right?"

"Brilliant." Charlie switched from Ray's shape to the image of Kendra Saunders in the photo. "Now this is more like it," she said, looking down at her new shape. "Almost as hot as Amaya, if I do say so myself."

She and Wally heard footsteps behind them and turned around to see Zari standing in the doorway. "You're never going to let that go, are you?" she asked. "And don't pretend you're anyone other than Charlie to get out of this, because I have literally never fallen for that."

Wally and Charlie looked at each other nervously. "Whatever you do," Wally whispered, "don't tell her about the R-O-C-K…"

"Rocket Fuel?" Zari finished for him. "I figured. What else could get a shapeshifter and a speedster drunk?"

"Psh," Charlie denied, her speech still slurred, "we're not drunk."

"Yeah, and I'm Abraham Lincoln," Zari returned. She stepped into the room and narrowed her eyes at Wally. "I've got exactly one guess as to who moved my console and I'll give him exactly three seconds to put it back before I start a tornado. Three…two…"

Lightning flashed as Wally sprang into action. He zipped away, placing the console exactly where he'd found it in Zari's room, then returned to Charlie's side, nearly tripping over his own feet when he stopped moving.

"…one." Zari walked farther into the parlor toward her friends. "If you broke my high score," she warned Wally exactly as Charlie had only minutes before, "I swear I will end you."

Wally and Charlie looked at each other and tried, very unsuccessfully, to hold back their laughter.

"What's so funny?" Zari asked.

"Nothing, mate," Charlie said, patting her on the shoulder. She switched back into her typical shape and asked, "Is everyone else back now, Z?"

"Yup. Stargazing's over. And what are you guys doing?"

Wally handed Zari the photo. "We found this," he explained. "It's the OG Legends."

"Huh," Zari mused, looking at each of the mostly unfamiliar faces. "Interesting. I remember Jax and Professor Stein," she said, pointing out each Legend as she said their name. "Really miss them. We lost Stein on a mission, poor guy. And that's Mick in the back. And Captain Lance, of course."

While the three of them continued to analyze the photo, Mick, Sara, Nate, and Ray strolled through the Waverider, heading toward the bridge from the cargo bay. "I'm glad you guys had fun," Ray told them. "You know, I've got a book on the myths behind all the constellations we saw. Want me to show it to you sometime?"

"Does it have vampires?" Mick asked.

"Um…" Ray thought about it, "I'm actually not sure."

"Probably not," Sara answered for him.

"Then no," Mick answered definitively.

Ray looked a little offended. Nate patted him on the shoulder. "It's cool, buddy," he comforted him. "I'd love to check it out. Myths are my jam."

"I think you mean…Legends," Sara said with a mischievous smile.

Ray and Nate looked at each other, sharing a relieved expression. If Sara was back to cracking Legends jokes, the team must have done something right tonight.

"Ha! Yeah," Ray agreed, high-fiving his Time Bro. "Legends are always our jam."

As they approached the bridge, they heard the voices of their teammates. "Is that…Charlie?" Ray asked.

"And Wally, it sounds like," Sara said, listening.

"Have they actually been gone all night?" Nate wondered.

Sara shrugged. "I don't know, but maybe we should see what they're up to." She heard a thud followed by Charlie's laughter. She froze, then started walking significantly faster. "Oh, we definitely need to see what they're up to."

* * *

"I think I look good in a cowboy hat, don't you, Z?" Charlie asked with a wink toward Zari, this time shaped like Jax's image in the picture.

Zari rolled her eyes. "You don't even know who Jax is."

Charlie puffed out her chest. "Oh, I don't know. I'm definitely getting a vibe. Just this sense of…general niceness. Am I right?"

"You're not wrong," Zari said slowly, "but maybe it's time to take a break from impersonating teammates, past or present…"

"Do Ray again!" Wally suggested.

Zari placed her hands on her hips and looked at him angrily. "What did I just say, Wally? Remember, you're still on thin ice for moving my console."

Charlie shifted into Ray's shape again. "You got it, speedster."

"Hey, is that me?" Ray asked, approaching the parlor with Sara, Mick, and Nate. "As a…cowboy?"

Charlie returned to Amaya's shape. "Rage! Good to see you, mate!"

"What is going on here?" Sara demanded, walking into the middle of the group gathered in the parlor.

"Wasn't me," Zari said, stepping back with her hands held up innocently.

"We're great, Sara," Wally assured her. "So, so, great. Greater than great." He tried to place his hand against the wall without looking, but instead placed it on the globe. When he leaned his weight against it, the globe went spinning, throwing him to the floor. "Oof!" he exclaimed, landing on his face. "Super great."

"Well," Mick said, clearly enjoying the sight of a member of Team Flash being out of control, "they're blasted."

"Only a little bit," Wally insisted, still on the floor.

Sara rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Can't leave you alone for five minutes," she muttered. She put her hands down and looked accusingly at Wally. "Rip told me about that Rocket Fuel stuff. Wally West, did you give Charlie, a magical shapeshifter, Rocket Fuel?"

"No," he lied.

"He didn't give it me. I took it from him," Charlie said, her tone indicating that she thought her addition was helping. "He actually tried to stop me. What a responsible bloke."

Nate looked at the two of them. "Wait, Rocket Fuel? What is that?"

Wally held up a small flask and waved it in the air. "Courtesy of Cisco Ramon!"

"I really need to meet this Cisco bloke," Charlie said as she hopped up to sit on top of the desk. "He's a genius, isn't he? Do you all know him?"

"Yes, we…no, we're not talking about Cisco right now," Sara said, quickly putting the conversation back on track. "Charlie, I'll deal with you in a second. Wally, what were you thinking?"

"He wasn't," Mick deduced, still enjoying himself immensely. He took a step closer to watch the show from a better view.

Charlie shapeshifted into Mick's form, still copying the cowboy outfit from the photo. "He wasn't," she mimicked before dissolving into laughter at the sound of his gruff voice coming out of her mouth.

"Nice one," Mick said. He stomped up the stairs and gave the shapeshifter in his own shape a high-five.

Sara pointed at him. "Rory, don't encourage her."

Wally pushed himself up off the floor and looked around at the other Legends around him. "Relax, guys," he assured them calmly. "We're not doing anything bad. We were just looking at that photo."

"What photo?" Sara asked.

Charlie, still shaped like Mick, handed it to her. "The one where you originals look like you walked straight out of a John Wayne movie," she elaborated.

Sara looked at the picture and couldn't prevent a small, nostalgic smile from crossing her face. It was the same picture she'd found in Ray's room after his body had been taken over by Neron. "That's us," she said softly.

Ray walked up the steps and looked over her shoulder at the photo. Nate followed close behind him. "Would you look at that? I forgot I put that out here," Ray said. "We haven't aged a day, huh?"

Charlie switched to Ray's Western-style shape. "Judge for yourself, mate. Whoa," she paused, holding onto the desk for balance. "Got a little dizzy with that one." She switched into Kendra's shape again, still gripping the edge of the desk. "I like this one," she declared. "Looks like she's the only other lady in the photo with you, Captain. The team demographics really have switched around, haven't they?"

Sara looked up from the photo and at Charlie, the exact image of her old friend, Kendra Saunders. As upset as she was with Charlie, she couldn't help feeling a little happy to see Hawkgirl's face. "They have, Charlie," she answered thoughtfully. "Kendra was a good friend of mine back then. Now, she's back to living her life in the timeline with her soulmate. And now you," she added with extra emphasis, "need to get back to looking like Amaya so you can sleep this off."

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie responded, the reluctance in her voice obvious. "One more question, though." Her body glowed red as she transformed from Kendra into the shape of a tall man wearing all black and clearly attempting to hide a black eye under his cowboy hat. She looked identical to the man standing next to Sara in the picture. "Who's this fellow?" she asked, leaning back with her elbows against the desk. "Easy on the eyes, isn't he?" she added with a tip of the black hat on her head.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room as Mick's and Sara's faces clouded. Ray looked uneasily at the two of them. Mick slammed his fist on the desk, muttered something incomprehensible about a ghost, and stomped away. Sara watched him go, then turned to Charlie, her demeanor suddenly very serious.

"That's enough," she said.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Charlie transformed back into her usual body. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"She was just doing Leo," Zari pointed out. As much as she wanted Charlie and Wally to stop their silliness, she couldn't understand why the image of Leo Snart from Earth-X would prompt such a strong reaction from her captain.

"Yeah, I thought we all liked him," Nate added, equally as confused.

Ray began to say something, then thought better of it and shut his mouth. Sara remained rigid. "No more shapeshifting tonight," she said. "Charlie, I'm ordering you to go to your room. Wally, I don't know where you need to go, but go there."

"But…" Wally tried to argue.

"No buts," the captain interrupted him. "Do you want me to ban all shapeshifting on this ship?"

Charlie looked down. "No."

"Then this conversation is over." She paused and, when neither the shapeshifter nor the speedster made an effort to immediately move, she added, "Now."

Not wanting to risk more trouble, Charlie and Wally dashed off. Sara looked down at the picture. There they were, the original Legends. Mick, Kendra, Ray, Jax, Stein, Sara, and the man standing right next to her in the picture, Leonard Snart. Sara felt a knot in her stomach. She'd felt that knot briefly when she'd first seen Leo on Earth-X, but only for the moment it had taken to realize that he was not truly Leonard. This time, however, it was different. Charlie hadn't become Leo. She had become Leonard, specifically Leonard on the team's first trip to Salvation, North Dakota, the day after Mick had nearly killed him in a fistfight. Charlie had even had the bruises on her face to prove it.

Ray moved closer to Sara and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he spoke softly, "I'm sorry about…"

"There's nothing to be sorry about," she cut him off sharply, moving away from his hand. "I said this conversation is over. It's over. Goodnight." She set the photo down on the desk and walked briskly out of the parlor and down the corridor toward her room.

Once she was out of earshot, Nate and Zari looked at Ray in confusion. "What was that all about?" Zari asked him.

Ray peered around the corner to make extra certain that Sara was gone before answering, "Charlie might have crossed a line there. Unintentionally, I'm sure, but Sara and Mick really didn't need to see that."

"See what?" asked Nate. "I get that seeing old teammates is pretty freaky stuff, but they didn't react that way to Jax or the other girl."

"Yeah," Zari agreed. "Why Leo?"

"Because that wasn't Leo," Ray clarified. "That was Leonard." He stepped across the parlor to pick up the picture from where Sara had left it, then pointed to the man in the black outfit beside Sara. "Leonard Snart was one of the first Legends," he explained to his two newer teammates. "He was our teammate, but he was especially close with Mick and Sara."

"Hold on," Nate said, "you mean the Legion of Doom guy?"

"Well…" Ray hesitated, "sort of. Technically, that was a past version of him from before he joined the Legends. But yeah, that was him."

"Where is he now?" Zari asked.

Ray shook his head sadly. "He died. No, more than that. He sacrificed himself to save the rest of the team. Mick took it the hardest. Sara, well, she never wanted to talk about it, but I think it hurt her pretty badly too. You know how she is about keeping things inside." He set down the photo and looked at his teammates' faces somberly. "Leonard Snart died a hero, but that doesn't make it any easier on his closest friends to see someone joking around while wearing his face. Mick and Sara will be fine. They just need some space. Okay?"

"Okay," Nate and Zari agreed in unison.

"Good," Ray said, his nearly perpetual cheerfulness halfway returning to his face. "Then let's all just go to our rooms and get some sleep. I hear the sunrises here are amazing. Wouldn't want to miss it." He exited the room to follow his own suggestion. Zari and Nate exchanged a slightly confused look, shrugged it off, and then followed after him.


	5. The Snarchives

The next morning, Zari sat at the kitchen table, eating scrambled eggs cooked by Gideon. The Waverider was mostly quiet. Ray had taken Nora out for a sunrise hike, Charlie was still very asleep, and Mona was reading the latest Rebecca Silver novel in her room, too engrossed to leave. Zari didn't know where the rest of her teammates were, but at least it was too early for them to be getting into trouble.

That thought left her mind when Nate popped into the kitchen. He was dressed, alert, and generally looked like he'd already been up for hours. "Z," he said, his expression intense and focused as if trying to unravel the secrets of the universe, "something doesn't make sense."

"Welcome to the Waverider," she responded sarcastically as she chewed another mouthful.

"No, I'm serious," Nate continued. He walked across the room and sat down in the chair across from her. "I can't get over that weird thing that happened last night."

She put down her fork and switched her focus from her eggs to his face. "What weird thing?"

"The thing when Mick and Captain Lance freaked out," he elaborated. "Ray said it was about this Leonard Snart guy, that they were super close friends with him."

"Yeah," she nodded, remembering Charlie's drunken shapeshifting escapades.

"Well, it doesn't make sense!" he said emphatically. "You weren't there, but I met Leonard Snart when he was part of the Legion of Doom. He was a bad guy. Like, a really bad guy. I just don't understand how they could be so close to someone who would do…stuff like that."

Zari looked at him quizzically. "Stuff like what?"

"He…" Nate hesitated, looked around as if to make sure no one else was in the room, then finished, "…I think he killed Amaya. And Ray. And Mick too, for that matter. And maybe Stein, but that one was a little vague, so I'm not quite sure."

Zari scoffed. "Um, maybe you forgot, but Amaya went home and lived happily ever after in Zambesi. Also, Ray is alive and currently on a sunrise date, Stein was killed by Nazis from Earth-X, and Mick is also very alive. Try again."

"No, not in this timeline," he clarified. "When we fought the Legion of Doom, a future version of ourselves came back to help us defeat them. We don't know exactly what happened in that future, but it was bad enough that they, or we, allowed themselves, or ourselves, to become time remnants and break the one rule of time travel to ensure it wouldn't happen." He lowered his voice, "Except not all of us came back. Amaya, Ray, and Stein didn't."

"So, you think the Legion of Doom killed them," Zari surmised.

"I know they did," Nate explained. "Mick said that Amaya and Ray were both dead and that Stein was as good as dead, whatever that means. Then, when we went out to fight the Legion, I saw Snart put an icicle through future Mick to kill him. After we defeated the Legion, we returned him to his time and wiped his memory of the whole thing to preserve the timeline."

Zari thought about it. "I mean, technically, since you erased that timeline and his memory, none of that actually happened."

"But it did," Nate insisted. "It did happen. If it hadn't happened, our future selves wouldn't have come back to stop it from happening."

"How did you know it was him who killed them? It could've been someone else in the Legion," Zari pointed out.

Nate shook his head. "Even then, he'd still have to have been complicit. I mean, how do you expect me to believe a guy could kill Amaya, Ray, and who knows how many other people and still be…friends with Captain Lance? Mick's not a huge shock," he admitted, "but Sara is."

"Uh-huh," Zari said, mulling the situation over. "Well, you never know. People can change. We have Nora Darhk on our team right now, and she was trying to kill all of us just over a year ago."

"Nora was manipulated by her father from childhood to be Mallus's vessel," Nate argued. "Snart chose to team up with Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn, and Eobard Thawne to destroy reality with the Spear of Destiny. Big difference."

Zari took another bite of her eggs. "And I have no idea who any of those names are, besides Damien Darhk, or what that spear thing is, so that whole sentence meant nothing to me."

Nate groaned. "Come on, Z, I'm just trying to figure this out. I need some girlfriend support here."

Zari blinked, then stared straight forward.

"Zari?" Nate asked, noting her strange expression.

She suddenly relaxed. "Sorry, sorry," she shrugged, "that was just…the first time you've called me your girlfriend without lying."

"Was it?" Nate thought about it and, in fact, couldn't remember saying so out loud since they'd officially begun dating. That had only been a few weeks ago, after dealing with the insanity of restoring Zari's memory and place in the timeline with her brother now alive. "Huh. I guess so." He grinned at her. "So…does that mean you'll help me?"

Zari gave up resisting. "Fine," she conceded, "let's do some research on this Snart guy, whoever he is."

Nate gave her a thumbs up. "Way ahead of you, Z! To the library!" He bolted out of the kitchen in the library's direction. Zari gulped down the last of her eggs, then hurried after him.

* * *

Ray and Nora sat on the green hillside, facing east. The sun had been up for at least a couple of hours, but they'd stayed all the same, just talking and resting. It wasn't always easy to find time to be alone while surrounded by the other Legends. Ray passed a thermos to Nora.

"Coffee?" he offered. "There's butter in it."

"Why do you do that, Ray?" she asked exasperatedly, although she accepted the thermos anyway. "Literally no one else puts butter in coffee."

"Their loss," he shrugged.

"Sure." She took a sip, then passed it back to him. "Huh. It's actually kind of good."

"Told you."

She smiled, then turned to him. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask, do you think I was too, I don't know…harsh, I guess, with Sara yesterday?"

Ray looked at her curiously. "Harsh? What do you mean?"

"When I told her that whole thing about how she needs to suck it up and acknowledge that she's keeping herself busy to deal with Ava," Nora explained. "I haven't changed my mind about any of the stuff I said, but maybe I was a little too pushy."

"No," Ray insisted, "you were just pushy enough. You didn't say anything that wasn't true."

"I know," she said, "but it's not about that. I'm still new on this team and I'm still getting the hang of it. I'm used to saying whatever I want to whomever I want, but I have to be a team player now. I don't want to be too bold toward Sara and mess up the whole team dynamic." She let out a little laugh. "Saying it out loud sounds ridiculous."

Ray smiled. "Nora, you have nothing to worry about. If the Legends were concerned about acting perfectly all the time, we wouldn't be the Legends. The team thought you'd be a good fit and decided to let you stay. That means all of you, including the part that isn't afraid to tell your captain to her face that she has a problem. Besides," he leaned in closer to her, "I like it when you're bold."

"Yeah?" Nora leaned in, preparing to kiss him.

"Aw, this is so cute!" Gary Green exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind them.

"Gary!" they both shouted, pulling away from each other immediately.

Nora struggled to regain her composure. "Gary, what are you doing here?" she seethed.

Gary shifted around so that he was sitting down between them. He pointed to his wrist. "New time courier," he said. "It has a bunch of new features. Want to see?"

"Look, Gary," Ray said, trying to deescalate the situation, "it's nice to see you, but we're kind of on vacation. And in the middle of…"

"Smooching?" the Time Bureau agent suggested with a wink.

"Uh…sure." He exchanged a look with Nora, then continued, "Nothing personal, but now isn't really the best time for the team to get an order from Ava, so if you wouldn't mind finding someone else to do whatever you need us for, that would probably be in everyone's best interest."

"Psh!" Gary dismissed his attempts to get rid of him. "This isn't a business meeting. I'm here to talk to Nora." He turned around to face her. "I came as soon as I realized you were back in the present."

"I noticed," she said dryly.

Gary ignored her obvious disdain and pulled a book out of his coat pocket. "This is important, Nora. It's about Book Club."

"Book Club?" Ray repeated, confused.

Nora sighed. "It's this thing I did with Mona, Ava, and Sara…and Gary," she added reluctantly.

"This thing you are still doing," Gary corrected her. "Remember? I gave you three conditions to release you from being my fairy godmother. Number one: I can tell people I'm a real Legend. Number two: we are officially friends. Number three: I am a permanent member of Book Club."

"And all of that is true," Nora said. "So, why are you in Tibet?"

Gary placed the book in her lap. "Because Book Club hasn't met in forever," he explained. "We are way overdue for a meeting. I can't be a member of Book Club if there is no Book Club. I know it's hard to meet when you're on your missions and everything, which is why I didn't try to contact you earlier, but when I saw that you were back in the present, I just thought…"

"You just thought that we could have Book Club again."

"Well…yeah."

Nora picked up the book, looked at its spine, then looked back at Gary. "Listen, I get it. I do. I'm not trying to stand in the way of you being in Book Club. It just isn't the best time, okay? Half of the club just broke up with each other. We meet to talk about fictional drama, not get involved in each other's. It would be too messy." She handed the book back to him.

Gary frowned disappointedly. "But I've only ever been to one Book Club meeting."

"Yeah, and you forced us all to speed read against our will. Don't remind me."

Gary scooted an inch closer to her. "Come on, Nora. You're my friend. Officially. Help me out here."

Nora looked away for a moment, then answered, "Okay. I'll talk to Mona. We'll find a time to do Book Club."

"Yes!" Gary leaped to his feet with joy.

"But without Sara and Ava!" Nora immediately added. "That kind of tension is the last thing we need in Book Club. Do not tell either of them about this, got it?"

"You got it! Thanks, best friend!"

"Not best," she corrected him, "just friend. Best was nowhere in the conditions."

Gary laughed. "You're hilarious." He pushed a button on his time courier and opened a rectangular portal in front of him. "I'll let you two get back to it," he said with a suggestive movement of his eyebrows. "See you later, Nora!" He stepped through the portal and it shut behind him, leaving no trace of its brief existence in the Tibetan hillside.

Nora and Ray sat in awkward silence. "Well," Ray said finally, "at least you're not his fairy godmother."

* * *

"Welcome," Nate said, ushering Zari into the Waverider's library, "to the Snarchives!"

Zari raised an eyebrow. "The what now?"

"The Snarchives," he repeated. "Snart plus archives. I came up with it earlier today. It's clever."

"Is it, though?" She looked around, noticing several very random items scattered around the library. "Were you doing this all morning?" she asked, somewhat concerned.

"And all night," he nodded. "I've already had, like, five cups of coffee."

"That's…not healthy."

"Probably not," Nate conceded, "but I had to stay up somehow. This Snart guy is a big puzzle, and I need to put the pieces together. It's going to bother me until I do."

Zari walked over to the table where an old journal, another small book, a sketch of museum blueprints, the Old Western picture from the parlor, a blue parka, and a weapon identical to Leo Snart's cold gun were lying. "Okay, Sherlock," she asked, "what's all this?"

"These," Nate replied as he walked over to her, "are some of the clues I found around the Waverider." His hand hovered over the journal. "This is Rip's old journal from when he was captain. He doesn't say a lot about any of the team members. It's mostly just dates and brief mission summaries. But he does talk about the day he recruited them all. And he says a little bit about Snart being really frustrating to work with."

"Weren't all of the Legends frustrating for Rip to work with?" Zari asked. "I mean, I barely knew the guy, but he seemed pretty over everyone's crap."

"True. But that's not the really interesting part. Rip wrote that Leonard Snart and Mick Rory were recruited together."

"They were all recruited together."

"No," Nate said, shaking his head. "Not together like at the same time. Together like partners. They were criminal partners, Z. Bank robbers. Thieves. That's why Mick was so close with him. They already knew each other."

"Great," Zari said, "mystery solved." She turned to go.

Nate held up his hand to stop her from leaving. "Not quite. We still don't know about his connection to Sara, or why the originals see him as anything other than a killer." He picked up the small book. "This is a copy of _Of Mice and Men_ by John Steinbeck," he said, handing it to her. "By the looks of it, it's been read a few times."

Zari took it and flipped carefully through the pages. "What does this have to do with Snart?"

"It was in the same box as all those coats," Nate explained. "You know, the ones we all wore when we got trapped in that avalanche. Mick said they were Snart's at the time. Therefore, this is also probably Snart's."

"Okay, I guess the guy liked Steinbeck," Zari observed. "Fair enough."

Nate reached over and turned to the first page. "Steinbeck got the title for this book from an old Scottish poem. Most copies of the book don't include it because it's not part of the work itself, but this is a special edition, so it has an English translation of the poem on the first page as a bonus. Look which part is underlined," he said, pointing to the short text in front of them.

Zari read aloud, "The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry."

"Exactly," Nate said, taking the book back and placing it on the table again. "Why would he underline that part?"

Zari shrugged. "Because it's the title of the book?"

"He's not in high school, Z," Nate insisted. "He doesn't need to remember the meaning of the book title for a pop quiz in sixth period. He underlined that because it was important to him. The question is why."

Zari was hesitant to admit it, but she was starting to feel a little intrigued. "What's next?" she asked, sidestepping closer to the next item on the table. "A…blueprint of the Central City Museum?"

"Also from that box. But it's not just any blueprint," Nate explained, his hand hovering over the sketch as he spoke. "This is dated from 1975, but in Rip's journal, there were no missions in Central City in 1975. The team did go to that year, but they spent most of it at a weapons auction on a different continent."

"Maybe he went alone," Zari suggested, "and not for a mission. He could have gone rogue and taken the jump ship. Pretty sure we've all done something like that at some point. Rite of passage."

"But why?" Nate asked. "What did the Central City Museum have in 1975 that was so valuable that he would go alone to that time and place, of all times and places?"

She looked down at the blueprints, analyzing them to see if any answers jumped out at her. They didn't. "We could see what the Central City Museum was exhibiting at that time," she said. "Maybe it was relevant to defeating…" she waved her hand as she tried to remember the name of the Legends' first adversary, "…what's his face…Vandal Savage."

Nate tapped on the small screen on the wall behind him, causing it to reveal a newspaper article from 1975. "Already done. The only unusual event I could find at the museum in 1975 was the burglary of a very valuable emerald. But it was found only days later, and not with Leonard Snart. It was with his father, Lewis."

Zari took a step closer to the screen for a better look. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that Snart did something to tamper with the past," he explained. "Think about it. Snart's father gets arrested for possessing the emerald in 1975. Snart has a copy of the museum's blueprints from 1975 in 2016, despite not having a mission there. They have to be connected. Otherwise, it would be a massive coincidence." He leaned forward against the table, studying the blueprints. "Right now, I've got two theories. One: he went back in time to help his dad steal the emerald. Or two: he planted the emerald on his dad to get him arrested."

Zari laid a hand on his shoulder gently while he continued to stare intensely at the blueprints. "Hey, I love a good mystery as much as you do, and this is definitely interesting stuff," she told him, "but don't you think you're getting a little obsessive?"

Nate looked up at her. "I just want to know, Z. I want to know what makes the kind of person who could kill Amaya and Ray, then two years later be close friends with Sara and die a hero."

Zari picked up the small photograph of the original team, focusing carefully on the man in black beside Sara. The two of them were standing very close to each other. Sara even looked like she might have been looking at him, although she could have also just been looking at something else to her left. It was hard to tell with such an old picture. "That is a good question," Zari allowed. She placed the picture back on the table and leaned down to Nate's eye level. "Okay, deductive historian, let's do some deduction."

* * *

John Constantine peered around the corner of the Waverider's corridor. It was empty. He tiptoed to the side and stuck his head into the kitchen. Also empty. He returned to the corridor, a relieved smile on his face. "Finally," he said, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket. He placed it in his mouth and struck a match.

"Hey!" Mona exclaimed, making him jump with surprise. She stepped around the corner and plucked the cigarette out of his mouth. "You know this is a non-smoking time ship, Mr. Constantine."

"Mona," he groaned, "what do you think you're doing? Can't a bloke have a smoke in peace for once?" He blew out the match's small flame, clearly irritated.

Mona frowned. "Wolfie's sense of smell is very strong," she told him. "Smoking bothers her a lot, and she can sense a cigarette from a mile away, even before it's lit."

John crossed him arms and leaned back against the wall. "I doubt that, love."

Mona ignored his dismissal. "Why do you smoke so much, anyway?" she asked. "It's super bad for you."

"So is interacting regularly with demons, sweetheart, but do you see me stopping?"

"No."

"Ah. Well, then." He adjusted his loose tie, then asked her, "Don't you have a romance novel to read or a magical beast to tame or something?"

Mona's eyes lit up. "Actually, Mick gave me a copy of the newest Rebecca Silver novel. It's so good! I barely slept last night because I was so into it. You wouldn't believe what Buck does in chapter four…"

"I live on a time ship and fight demons for a living, love," John reminded her. "I'm pretty sure I'd believe anything." He looked down the hallway again, then asked, "Speaking of Rory, where is our resident pyromaniac anyway? He's usually taken over the kitchen by now."

Mona tilted her head in the general direction of the cargo bay. "I think I heard him and Captain Lance in the cargo bay. It sounded like they were training or sparring or something, but it sounded pretty intense, so I didn't interrupt."

"Ah, I see," John remarked, pulling a small glass container out of his pocket. Inside the jar were several tiny, red pellets. "Well, whenever they're done, I've got these for our hot-headed friend. He wanted something to feed his new pet, other than lies, so I concocted some of these enchanted bad boys."

Mona was surprised. "Mick has a new pet?"

"Just that old truth bug," Constantine explained. "He was missing AXL, so I thought he could use a new companion of sorts. I already gave him an enchanted cage for it, so it's not like the thing's going to break out and start a war of truth bombs again."

"Aw," Mona cooed, grinning sweetly, "that's so nice, Mr. Constantine."

He dismissed the compliment. "Nice? Ha! No, sweetheart, it's sensible. The last thing we need on this ship is an unstable Mick Rory. If having a pet keeps him a little tamer, we'll all live a little longer. Say," he changed the subject, "you haven't seen a thick book bound with skin, have you? It's due for a soaking and it'll get pretty putrid if I don't do it soon."

Mona winced at the thought of a skin-covered book. "Um…no? No, I don't think so." She thought for moment, then added. "Actually, maybe it's in the library. I know I saw a lot of really old books in there the other day. Want to go look together? Four eyes are better than two, right?"

John shrugged. "Eh. Why not?" The two of them headed in the direction of the library in search of his strange book.

* * *

As they entered the library, John and Mona were surprised to see Nate and Zari in the middle of a very lively discussion, surrounded by a strange collection of objects.

"But why did he have so many?" Nate demanded, holding up the fuzzy hood of Snart's old coat. "Why does one guy need more than one of the same coat?"

Zari threw her hands up in frustration. "I don't know, okay?" She started throwing out possibilities. "Maybe he really liked that specific brand. Maybe he didn't want to risk losing his only one while time traveling. Maybe he was a weird doomsday prepper for an ice apocalypse. I don't know!"

"Say, now," Constantine interrupted, making his presence known, "what is going on in here?"

"Are you two fighting?" Mona asked, her eyes wide. "I really hope you're not, because you guys are so cute together and…"

"We're not fighting," Zari clarified. "Nate found all this old stuff relating to Leonard Snart, one of the original Legends. Apparently he was someone Mick and Sara were both very close to. We're just trying to figure him out."

"Because," Nate continued, "we know that this original Legend was a really bad dude when he was with the Legion of Doom. Somehow, he went from being a ruthless killer to someone the originals cared about. We want to know why and how. These," he said, gesturing to the items on the table, "are the Snarchives."

John and Mona both cringed.

"What?" Nate said, disappointed at their reaction. "I think it's clever. Snart plus archives. Snarchives."

"Stop saying Snarchives," John said.

"Yeah," Mona agreed, "it sounds kind of gross."

"Thank you!" Zari exclaimed.

Mona crossed the room and looked at the items on the table. She picked up the Old Western photo. "Which one was he?" she asked.

"The one next to Sara," Nate answered.

"Hm…" Mona squinted at the picture. "He seems cool, I guess. I'm definitely getting a bad boy vibe of some kind."

"More like bad guy," Nate said. "In a deleted timeline, either killed or was complicit in killing Amaya and Ray. And possibly also Stein, but that one's up for debate. Also Mick, or technically his time remnant."

John joined the rest of his teammates at the table, intrigued. "Hero with a dark side, eh?" he said with a smirk. "I like it." He leaned over Mona's shoulder to see the photo. "Oh, that must be Leo's doppelganger," he realized. "Just as handsome on every earth, it would seem."

"Hate to burst your bubble, John," Zari pointed out, "but he's dead. Ray said he died heroically sacrificing himself to save the team."

Mona gasped. "Oh no! That's so sad! I mean, not that the team was saved. Just that he died."

"Which is why it's so weird that he was willing to kill the Legends when he was with the Legion," Nate elaborated. "I mean, what kind of guy is evil enough to kill Amaya, Ray, and the others, but still good enough to sacrifice his life for the team?"

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Stranger things have happened," he said, "but you do have a point."

"Exactly," Nate said. He carefully picked up the cold gun. "So, next on the list: Snart's cold gun. It's identical to Leo's, except Leo built his gun himself in the resistance. This one has a S.T.A.R. Labs symbol on the bottom, meaning it had to have been made there. Theories, anyone?" Several hands shot up. "Great. Who's first?"

* * *

Wally zoomed through the corridors of the Waverider until he found Charlie's room. He knocked twice, then went ahead and opened the door. "Ground control to Major Tom," he called out. "You alive?"

"Ugh," Charlie groaned, appearing in the doorway begrudgingly with sunglasses over her eyes. "Barely."

Wally grinned smugly. "I did warn you, you know."

"I know, I know." She winced. "Taking so many different shapes didn't help either. I'm not changing form again for a week."

Wally handed her a bottle. "Hangover cure. I don't know how shapeshifters deal with this, but it worked for Rip, so maybe it'll work for you."

"Thanks, mate." She opened it and took a sip. "It's awful," she said, cringing, "but I think it'll work."

"Good." Wally leaned back and peered down the hallway. "Hey, do you know where everyone is? I thought they'd be outside, but they weren't. It seems like things are pretty quiet in here too, though."

"No clue," she answered.

"Huh. Weird." He leaned against the doorway, thinking. "Actually, I thought I heard voices in the library. Like, a lot of voices. They were pretty heated. Maybe everyone's doing something in there." He stepped away from the doorway and into the corridor. "I'm going to see what's going on. Want to come?"

Charlie waved a hand in front of her face. "Not really in peak condition right now, speedster."

"Fine," Wally said with a shrug. "I guess you'll just be out of the loop on whatever crazy adventure they're all having. I'll bet it's super interesting. Might even have starfish from space, who knows?"

Charlie grimaced. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because you said we're friends," he replied with a teasing smile, "and friends get to give each other crap. Also," he added more genuinely, "you should probably do something other than stay in your room all day."

She groaned again, took another sip of the drink, then stepped out into the hallway. "This better be worth it, speedster," she warned, "or I'm telling Z you broke her high score."

* * *

"Whoa," Wally reacted, seeing almost the entire team in the library closely studying a number of seemingly unrelated objects. "What is going on in here?"

"Oh hey, Wally," Nate said, waving. "Hey, Charlie. We're going through the Snarchives."

"Stop saying Snarchives!" every other voice in the room exclaimed simultaneously.

Nate rolled his eyes, then continued to explain, "It's a long story, but basically, we're going through this Snart guy's stuff to figure out who he was and why Sara and Mick reacted like they did when they saw you, Charlie, looking like him last night."

Charlie lowered her sunglasses down her nose and squinted at the scene. "Oh, the coat bloke!" she realized, her eyes falling on the blue parka in Zari's hands. "I always wondered what that whole thing was about." She pushed her sunglasses back up to shield her eyes from the light. "Did you figure out why he had so many?"

"That one's still a mystery," Nate admitted.

"Wait," Wally interjected, stepping into the center of the room, "guys, you could literally just ask me this stuff. Leonard Snart fought Team Flash, like, so many times. Until Barry saved his sister. Then they were kind of okay with each other, I think."

"Sister," Nate repeated thoughtfully. "Interesting."

"And what about when he was a Legend?" Constantine asked, turning around to face the young speedster. "Do you know anything about that?"

Wally thought about it. "Uh…not a lot," he said sheepishly. "Just that Snart died saving the team. That's what Ray told Barry, anyway. It all went down before I joined, so I don't know too many details."

Nate patted him on the back. "That's all right, buddy," he said. "Anything helps with this puzzle."

Charlie finally stepped into the library from the doorway. "So, you're trying to piece together the life of a former Legend to make sense of his turn from villain to hero?" she summarized.

"Basically," Zari replied.

Charlie plopped down into an arm chair and swung herself sideways so that her head and legs were each propped up on one arm. "All you brilliant geniuses," she said wryly, "and you're taking the long way around."

"What do you mean?" asked Mona.

Charlie closed her eyes, still hidden under her sunglasses, and waved her hand toward the ceiling. "Bloody idiots. Why go through a dead man's stuff when you could just ask Gideon herself?"

The group looked at each other awkwardly.

"That…is something we could do," Nate slowly agreed.

"Yeah," Zari said, equally as embarrassed. "We could do that."

Charlie laughed, swinging her legs up and down. "Honestly, I don't know what you lot did before you had me. Probably just bumbled around."

"Gideon," Mona asked, addressing the air directly above her, "do you have any files on Leonard Snart?"

"Of course, Miss Wu," the A.I. answered. "I was waiting for you to ask."


	6. Gideon's Memories

**A/N: Spoiler alert for the ending of _Of Mice and Men_ by John Steinbeck in this chapter. It just felt really fitting, especially given Leonard's rule about plans going wrong that was brought up last chapter, so I couldn't help referencing it. Enjoy!**

* * *

Sara twirled a knife in her hand, then threw it across the cargo bay. It landed on the circular target propped up against the wall, a perfect bullseye. Behind her, Mick concentrated on the punching bag in front of him, landing his fists against it one after the other. Normally, Mick preferred to work out alone in his room, but recently, he and Sara had started training together in the cargo bay. It had been her idea, and he had been very reluctant to join in at the time. However, he eventually realized that Sara could be a tolerable workout partner. That, and the cargo bay had much more space than his room.

Sara smiled triumphantly and pulled the knife out of the target, as well as the five others that had been only slightly off center. "Want to give me a turn with that bag, Rory?" she asked.

He landed one more punch, sending the bag swinging. "All yours," he grunted, moving a few feet away to pick up his weights.

Sara took his place and began punching, landing her fists rhythmically. Right, left, right, left. "By the way," she said as she caught her breath between punches, "how are you doing after last night?"

Mick didn't look up, too focused on his weights. "What?"

Sara punched one more time, then stopped the bag mid-swing, holding it still. "When Charlie was Snart," she reminded him. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Okay?" he turned to look at her with a scowl. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

She continued, stretching her arms as she spoke, "Because he was your best friend, and that's the first time you've seen him since…"

"Since the Legion," Mick finished for her.

She looked down, remembering Leonard standing side by side with Damien Darhk in 1916. The man who had been one of her closest friends working with the man who had killed her sister. Time had healed some of the pain of that image, but it still hurt, which was why she avoided thinking about it. "I mean, technically," she said, redirecting the conversation, "you saw Leo before, but that was different."

"It wasn't Snart," Mick said. "It was Leo. And last night, it was Charlie. I'm not an idiot, Lance. Snart is gone."

"Yeah," Sara said, turning her back to him to face the punching bag again, trying to hide the sadness in her voice, "he is." She made two fists and began punching again in silence. Right, left, right, left, right…

* * *

"Leonard Snart was born at Central City Hospital in 1972 to Lewis and Laura Snart," Gideon said, displaying an image of a birth certificate. "Other relatives include a younger sister, Lisa Snart." The screen changed to reveal an image of a newspaper front page featuring a photo of Leonard Snart in a blue parka, standing menacingly on a Central City street opposite the Flash. "From 2014 to 2016, Mr. Snart was a frequent adversary of the Flash, taking the alias 'Captain Cold.'"

"Captain Cold?" Zari repeated.

"Cisco's idea," Wally explained.

"Not a bad name," Charlie remarked, still laying sideways in her chair. "I really do need to meet this Cisco bloke."

"So," Nate said, pacing across the library floor, "Snart was a bad guy, then."

Gideon continued, "After being recruited by Captain Rip Hunter, Mr. Snart joined the Legends aboard the Waverider alongside his longtime criminal partner, Mick Rory, alias 'Heatwave.'"

"Another Cisco Ramon original," Wally commented with a look toward Charlie. She nodded approvingly.

Constantine interrupted, "As much as we all love hearing Snart's Wikipedia entry, I don't think this is going to answer our questions."

Mona turned to him. "What do mean?"

"I mean," he explained, "birthdates and newspaper clippings only tell so much of a story, love. If you want to know what happened to make him turn heroic and be all buddy-buddy with the captain, you've got to get deeper than that."

"Constantine's right," Zari agreed. "Gideon, did Rip have you collect video footage of the original Legends team during their mission against Savage?"

"Yes, Miss Tomaz."

"Then dig up some footage of Leonard Snart on the Waverider," she instructed "Not battle scenes, not long expositional crap, just day-to-day stuff. Especially footage of him interacting with Sara."

Nate looked at her, confused. "What are you doing, Z?"

"Getting to know the real Leonard Snart," she answered. "The one Captain Lance was friends with. We know why Mick cared about him. Now we need to find out why she did. You got that, Gideon?"

"Of course, Miss Tomaz."

The small screen flickered, then revealed a video of one of the Waverider's hallways. Sara, about four years younger, was walking one direction. A man the team now recognized as Leonard Snart rounded the corner from the other side. The team was a little surprised to see that he'd switched his blue parka for a thinner, darker jacket. "Been looking for you," he drawled as they met in the middle of the space.

"Why?" Sara asked, crossing her arms.

Snart held up a box of playing cards. "Rip says we won't be back in the timeline for a while. Thought we could pass the time."

Sara looked at the box. "Don't you already have a partner?"

"Mick's not a fan of cards." He paused, then added with a smirk, "He knows I beat him every time."

Sara stepped toward him. "Is that a challenge, Leonard?" she asked playfully.

"Depends," he answered, turning the box in his hand, "do you accept?"

"I've never been afraid of a little competition," she replied. She turned to leave and said over her shoulder as she did, "Cargo bay, five minutes. And no cheating, crook!" she called out as she left the screen.

"Never have to, assassin!" he retorted, his eyes still following her direction as she walked away.

The screen flickered again and began to play a different clip. The setting was the parlor, and it was almost empty, except for Leonard Snart, who was reclining in a chair with his feet propped up on the captain's desk. The screen in front of him was showing some kind of underwater footage, although it was hard for the Legends watching to identify exactly what.

"Mr. Snart," Rip Hunter said, addressing him tiredly as he entered the parlor, "is it possible for you to entertain yourself elsewhere?"

"This is the best screen on this boat," Leonard answered without making any effort to move.

Rip looked at the screen intently. "What on earth are you watching?"

"Shark Week," he answered, still not looking away.

Rip sighed exasperatedly. "You're on a time ship, and the best way you can think to spend your time is watching bloody Shark Week?" No response. "Fine," the captain said, "can you at least remove your boots from my desk?"

"No."

Rip groaned, clearly annoyed but unwilling to put up much more of a fight. He pulled a map out and began studying it on top of his desk, trying his best to ignore Leonard.

Sara hopped up the steps into the parlor. "I brought sustenance," she announced, holding up a bowl of popcorn.

Leonard instantly spun around to face her, taking his feet off the desk in the process. "Gideon better have put extra butter on that," he said.

"Oh, I made sure she did," Sara assured him.

"Really?" Rip asked, staring at Sara in disbelief. "You're joining him, Miss Lance?"

Sara shrugged and pulled up a chair next to Leonard. "Why not? Between this team and the League, I've been in a lot of strange situations. You never know when obscure shark knowledge is going to be useful."

"That's correct," Leonard agreed, reaching for a handful of popcorn.

Rip attempted to continue working, but the sights and sounds of the television mixed with Sara and Leonard's popcorn eating proved too distracting. "Very well," he conceded defeat. "I will finish this work in my quarters. You two can watch your sharks in peace." He rolled up the map and marched out of the parlor.

"Good luck with that," Leonard said sarcastically, although Rip was already out of earshot by then.

"You know," Sara said, turning to look at him, "you don't need to be like that with Rip. I know he can be a pain, but he's just trying to do what's right."

"He's trying to defeat Savage," Leonard replied. "I want that guy dead as much as anyone on this ship, but Rip's got his priorities screwed up. One of these days, he's going to go too far."

Sara looked back at the screen but continued to address her friend. "You don't know that. He's just doing whatever he has to do to protect his family. If someone came after my family, I'd do the same thing."

Leonard glanced down thoughtfully, as if what she'd said struck a chord. "Yeah," he said softly, turning his attention back to Shark Week, "me too, I guess."

Sara smiled. "Wow, the infamous Captain Cold has a heart," she teased. "Who knew?"

Leonard threw her a sideways glance. "Don't go around telling people," he said. "I've got a reputation to uphold."

Sara rolled her eyes and picked up a piece of popcorn. "Catch, crook," she told him, tossing it up in the air. He leaned over and caught it in his mouth. "Nice," she said.

"Your turn, assassin," he said, picking up another piece and tossing it her direction. She caught it easily, then returned her focus to the screen. After a moment, she became aware of Leonard's eyes still on her. "What?" she asked, glancing at him.

Leonard quickly looked away. "Nothing." He leaned back in his chair. "Quiet, it's getting to the good part."

The screen flickered again and revealed footage of the Waverider kitchen. Inside were Leonard, Sara, and Mick, who was carrying three bottles of beer. He handed one to each of his teammates. "If there's one thing that gulag taught me," he said, "it's how to miss this sorry old bucket of bolts." He lifted his bottle up and pointed it toward the other two Legends. "And you idiots."

"That," Sara said, "is the sweetest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Enjoy it, Blondie," Mick replied gruffly. "You'll never hear it again."

Leonard leaned down to Sara's eye level, a mischievous look in his eyes. "He's saying he likes you," he told her.

"No, I'm not." Mick sounded almost insulted at the idea.

"Good to have you back, buddy," Leonard said, not acknowledging his friend's denial.

Sara raised her beer. "To Killer, Klepto, and Pyro," she said, "back together again. Cheers, guys."

The other two members of the trio tapped their bottles against hers, then each took a sip of their drink. Mick downed all of his beer in a couple more gulps, muttered something about his room, and stomped out, leaving Leonard and Sara alone.

"He does like you," Leonard repeated in his usual drawl. "No faster way to earn Mick's respect than beating up people twice your size."

Sara put down her drink and turned to face him. "Hey, about earlier, I don't think I ever thanked you for…"

"Don't," he cut her off.

She was surprised but continued speaking. "No, Leonard, I really should…"

"I didn't do anything," he replied, cutting her off again. "You're the one who didn't pull the trigger. Never give someone else credit for your own accomplishments, Sara."

She stepped back and stared at him, studying him as if he was a massive, walking mystery. "You don't understand. I would've killed him."

"But you didn't," he said, "because you're better than that, and you know it. All I did was remind you. Nothing else."

She placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "Well," she said, "thank you for reminding me."

He closed his eyes, then opened them as he smiled back at her. "You're welcome."

The video ended and the screen transitioned to the next one. Leonard and Sara were sitting on the floor of the cargo bay playing cards. Ray stormed in, looking about as angry as he was capable of looking.

"Where is it, Snart?" he demanded.

"Care to be more specific?" Leonard asked, not looking up from his cards.

"My wallet," Ray huffed. "I know you stole it. Where is it?"

"Raymond, Raymond, Raymond," Leonard sighed, "you still don't trust me, do you? And after everything we've been through…"

Ray frowned. "Just tell me where it is, Snart. If you give it back, I won't tell the captain."

Leonard finally looked up from his cards. "Oh, you're going to tell Rip," he said, amused. "Now I'm really scared."

Ray turned to leave, giving up on the conversation. "I'll find it, Snart. And when I do…"

"I'll be right here," Leonard said, unconcerned.

As soon as Ray was out of the frame, Sara looked up from her cards. "So, what did you do with it?"

Leonard reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, brown wallet, holding it up next to his face with a proud smirk. "Relax," he said, returning it to his pocket. "I didn't take anything out. I'm going to plant it in the lab later. He'll think he just misplaced it."

"He's not stupid, Leonard."

"Debatable."

Her brow furrowed. "Why did you even steal it if you're just going to plant it on him again?"

"It's been over a month since I last stole something," he replied. "Wouldn't want to get out of practice. Also," he laid down his cards face-up, "gin."

"Not again," she groaned, laying down her losing hand.

He scooped up the remaining cards and began to shuffle them back into a deck. "That makes two in a row," he bragged. "Not bad. Rematch?"

Sara leaned back against the wall. "I'll rematch you," she told him, "after you give Ray back his wallet."

He arched an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yep." She tilted her head toward the direction Ray had gone. "I'm not playing another game until Ray has his wallet back."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not. Go deal with it, crook."

Leonard thumbed through the card deck as he mulled it over. "Fine," he surrendered, finally standing up. "But when I get back, you are going to lose so badly for this." He walked out of the cargo bay in search of Ray.

"We'll see about that," Sara said as he left.

That clip ended and another one began. This one started in another corridor of the ship, outside Sara's room. Leonard walked past her door. As he passed by, it opened and Sara stepped out, stopping him in his tracks.

"What?" he asked.

"You didn't kill him," she stated matter-of-factly.

He frowned, crossing his arms. "Interesting assumption."

"I know the look of a person who's just killed," she elaborated, "and you don't have it. I've played cards with you a million times, Leonard. Your poker face is good, but not 'I just killed my best friend' good."

"Maybe it's better than you think," he growled.

Sara shook her head, still not believing him. "You just told me how much he meant to you. Do you really expect me to believe you'd turn around and kill him?"

"You ever read _Of Mice and Men_?" he asked.

"Don't change the subject."

"I'm not." He paused, then explained, "A man commits a crime, causing a mob to come after him. His best friend finds him first and kills him himself before something worse can happen."

"So what?" Sara looked at him quizzically. "Are you saying the Legends are a mob?"

"Not at all. Even if they were, he would have deserved it. He was a danger to the team."

"Then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I took care of him before something worse could happen."

Sara studied his face carefully. "And where is he now?"

"Sara…"

"Where is he?" she repeated her question.

He didn't answer, but instead turned to leave. She reached out and touched his arm. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her again.

"Leonard," she asked sternly, "where is Mick?"

His eyes darted down toward her left arm. There was a small, white bandage covering part of what looked like a burn. His eyes slowly moved up to meet hers again. "Somewhere he can't hurt anyone," he told her. He turned around and walked away, faster this time, before she could stop him again.

The video ended and another one began. This time, Sara and Leonard were in the fabrication room, dressed identically to their outfits in the old photo the newer Legends had been studying. "You know," Sara said as she adjusted her hat, "you should really put something on those bruises. They look pretty bad."

"I've had worse," Leonard said, pulling his black hat lower over his face.

Sara looked around the room as if searching for somebody. "You sure you're okay with him joining us?" she asked.

Leonard leaned over against the wall. "Why shouldn't I be?" he asked.

"Because he did that to your face," she said, pointing to the bruises peeking out from under his hat, "among other things."

"Like I said," Leonard replied, "I've had worse." He looked away, thinking, then added, "Mick is my partner. Sometimes, he's an idiot, but even then, he's still my partner. Besides, if he'd wanted to kill me, he had his chance and he didn't take it." He smirked and tipped his hat toward her. "Of course, I appreciate your concern. Always looking out for the rest of us. What a typical hero."

Sara smirked. "Only as much as you."

He grimaced. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" she asked. "Forgiving Mick, stopping me from killing Stein, not shooting Jax when he was a brainwashed monster. I think the rest of us heroes are starting to rub off on you."

"Take that back," he growled.

She walked out of the frame, joking as she did, "You're just like one of those…what do you call them? Idiot do-gooders?"

He straightened his hat, still looking in her direction. "Sounds like you've got about as much dumb optimism as the Flash," he said just loudly enough for her to hear him as she walked away. "And here I thought you were smarter than him. Guess I was wrong about that."

"Don't be so sure!" she called back.

Gideon began playing another video. This time, it took place in the bridge. Before anything could happen on the screen, the Legends were interrupted by the sound of Ray Palmer's voice coming from the doorway. "Was there a library party I wasn't invited to?" he asked.

Gideon paused the footage. The Legends looked to see him and Nora standing at the entrance to the library.

Ray stepped inside and peered at the screen, recognizing Leonard and Sara immediately. "What is going on here?" he asked. The Legends exchanged uneasy glances. "Guys," he continued gravely, "what are you doing? Why are you watching this?" He then noted Snart's belongings scattered across the table. "Why is all this here?"

Nate spoke up first. "We uh…we wanted to know more about Snart. After, you know, what happened last night with Charlie."

"Not my fault," Charlie insisted, glancing at Ray through her sunglasses. "How was I supposed to know who he was?"

"Are you guys crazy?" Ray asked, careful to keep his voice low. "Do you want Sara and Mick walking in here and seeing this? That's the last thing they need right now."

"Relax, Ray," Wally said calmly. "They're in the cargo bay doing their thing. It's just us."

"Just us?" he repeated incredulously. "Just the entire team other than Sara and Mick?"

Constantine nodded. "Yeah, just the people who wanted answers. And now, we've got them. Problem solved and all that. Nothing more to worry about."

Ray scratched his head. "You wanted answers?" he asked. "But…to what questions?"

Mona piped up, "Nate said Snart was a villain, so we wanted to see why Captain Lance and Mr. Rory cared about him so much."

"Mostly Captain Lance," Zari clarified. "Mick being friends with a villain isn't that shocking. Obviously, Sara wasn't going to tell us, so here we are. But, for the record," she added, jerking a thumb at Nate, "it was all his idea."

"Hey!" Nate exclaimed, taking a step away from her accusatory thumb.

Ray studied the screen again, then his teammates' faces. "You guys were really that curious about Snart, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nate admitted, "Zari's right. It was my idea. I remembered fighting him in the Legion of Doom, but when Captain Lance reacted like that last night, I wanted to know how that could be the same person. And you know what?" he glanced back at the screen as he continued, "I still don't understand how that's the same guy who tried to kill us all."

Nora finally stepped into the room to join the group. "I can't believe this," she muttered to herself. Then, she turned her eyes toward Nate. "Hi," she said, waving her fingers, "hello, former villain here. If I could change, why couldn't…whoever this is?" She gestured vaguely toward the screen, still exhibiting the paused footage.

"She's right," Zari said, throwing her boyfriend a charged look.

Nate stared at Nora for a moment, thinking. "This is different," he finally explained, speaking slowly. "He killed, or was at least complicit in killing, Amaya, Ray, and Mick. In a deleted timeline, but still. It was definitely him."

"And I'm pretty sure I tried to kill all of you at least once," Nora retorted. "Your point?"

Zari stepped between them. "Guys," she interrupted their brief argument, "let it go. Whoever Snart used to be, he was clearly the captain's friend, and from what we've seen," she nodded toward the screen, "not a bad one. Mystery solved."

"Not quite," Charlie argued, spinning herself around in the chair so she was finally sitting up.

"What do you mean 'not quite'?" Zari asked her.

Charlie adjusted her sunglasses, then answered, "Last I heard, this bloke died a hero, whatever that means." She looked pointedly toward Ray. "And what, exactly, does that mean? How did he go out, mate?"

Ray's face clouded. He looked down at the blue parka on the table silently. Then, he raised his eyes to meet the rest of the team's. "There was this thing called the Oculus," he explained sadly. "The Time Masters, Rip's old bosses, were using it to control time, essentially manipulating everyone's lives. We had to blow it up. Everything was going according to plan until we had to set off the bomb." He paused, then continued, "The Oculus had a fail-safe. Someone had to hold it down in order for the bomb to go off. It was supposed to be me, but Mick took my place. Then, Snart took his. And that was it. He sacrificed himself so the rest of us could live and defeat Savage. Now he's gone."

A weighted silence fell on the room. The newer Legends let Ray's description of Snart's death sink it. They had only just gotten to know who he was. It seemed wrong to feel anything for someone they'd never truly met, but there was still a strange sadness hanging in the air.

Charlie broke the silence first. "Well," she said, hoping to lighten the mood with a little positivity, "I'd say an epic explosion to save free will is one of the better ways to go."

Nate hung his head. "I'm sorry, man," he said, glancing at his best friend. "This was a bad idea."

"No," Ray reassured him. "No, it's okay. You wanted to know. Now you know."

Wally's brow furrowed as he puzzled over what Ray had said. "You're saying Snart blew up the thing that was controlling all of time itself," he summarized. "And he died in the explosion."

"Yeah," Ray replied. "At the Vanishing Point. It's this place that exists outside of time. The explosion basically destroyed everything there. It's all ruins now."

"So," Wally said slowly, processing, "there was nothing left from the explosion. I mean, nothing of Snart. Just ruins."

Ray shrugged sadly. "Just ruins," he confirmed. "The explosion was humongous. It burned up whatever body would've been left."

Mona sighed. "Poor Captain Lance and Mr. Rory," she said. "The three of them seemed so close. They must really miss him."

Zari clasped her hands together. "Well, this has taken a depressing turn," she observed. "We should probably put all of Snart's stuff back before Mick and…"

While the other Legends listened to Zari, Wally tuned her out, focusing on his own thoughts. Something didn't feel right. His memory reached back to his earliest days at S.T.A.R. Labs with Barry, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, and Harry. It was hard to keep track. He'd seen a lot of explosions, and he'd seen a lot of people get hurt or even die in them. But something about this felt off. He just couldn't put his finger on what…until he did. "Hey, guys?" he asked softly.

Zari stopped talking and everyone immediately turned to stare at him.

"Whoa," he said, honestly surprised to be the center of attention so suddenly, "that actually worked." He rubbed his hands together nervously. "Guys, I have an idea. I know it sounds insane, but just hear me out."

"What is it, Wally?" Nora asked.

Wally shifted his weight uncomfortably, know exactly how crazy he was about to sound. "It's just…I think…this is going to sound really ridiculous..."

"Spit it out, speedster," Charlie urged.

Wally looked around at each of the faces in the room. "What if Snart…isn't dead?"


	7. Only Mostly Dead

The Legends, minus Sara and Mick, stared blankly at Wally.

"I mean it, guys," he reiterated. "What if he's not dead?"

Zari crossed her arms. "Wally, you don't still have that Rocket Fuel stuff on you, do you?"

"No!" he denied, then added sheepishly, "I mean, I do, but I haven't had any today, I swear."

Ray copied Zari's posture. "Look, Wally," he said, "Snart's been gone for years. That explosion would have killed anybody."

"I get that," Wally said, "but hear me out." He walked across the room so that he was standing behind the table displaying Snart's belongings. "I've seen this before," he explained. "Or, really, Barry and the rest of the S.T.A.R. Labs crew did, but they told me about it. When the particle accelerator exploded in Central City, Ronnie Raymond was presumed dead because his body had, supposedly, been incinerated. But actually, he'd bonded with the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. matrix and Professor Stein. Ring any bells?"

Ray, Zari, and Nate shared a glance, simultaneously remembering Firestorm.

"Ronnie should never have survived that," Wally continued. "He was in the location where the radiation was the strongest. The center of the explosion. But he did survive, and it was because he bonded to the thing that was exploding. You said Snart was holding onto the Oculus when it exploded, and there was no body left to find. I think Snart might have done the same thing as Ronnie."

"So what?" Zari asked. "He's like a…time Firestorm?"

Wally shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe the temporal radiation was strong enough to have the same effect as the particle accelerator."

Ray offered a sympathetic smile. It was so nice to see a younger hero with so much hope, even if he had to let him down. "Wally," he said, "I like the way you're thinking, but that's just not possible. If Snart became time Firestorm, there would be a massive surge in temporal energy anywhere he went. After three years, we would have detected him."

Charlie leaned back in her chair. "I don't know much about this Firestorm thing," she said, "but I think the speedster's got a point. You did say there wasn't a body, mate."

"Yeah," Ray reiterated, "because any trace of him would have exploded. Would have? What am I even saying?" He threw his hands up, frustrated. "You see what you guys are doing? Now I'm sounding crazy."

"Oh, you're only sounding crazy now," Constantine remarked sarcastically. "Good to know."

Zari raised her hand. "Hold that thought," she said. Her mind raced, piecing together an idea. "Snart might not be time Firestorm, but I think Wally's onto something else. Anybody got a paper and pen…" Wally zoomed out of the room, searched through Ray's supplies in the lab, and came back instantly with a notebook and pencil. He handed them to Zari. "…cil?" She took them from him. "Still not used to that."

She set aside Snart's cold gun to make space on the table, then began drawing several long lines across a blank page in the notebook. Then, she drew a large circle at one end of the lines. She held up the drawing so the rest of the Legends could see. "Let's say this is the timeline," she explained, pointing to the lines, "and this is the Oculus," she pointed to the circle. She drew a couple of shorter lines coming off the circle, then held it up again. "The Oculus exists outside of time, right? So, it's not part of the timeline. It is, however, connected to time somehow in order to manipulate it. There's something linking it to timeline. Let's call it…a temporal hook. Except they wouldn't only connect to one part of time," she paused to extend the shorter lines with dashes until they were the same length as the other long lines, "so it would be more like this, hooking into all of it at once."

"So," Wally joined in, stepping closer to her, "when the Oculus goes boom…"

"The hook goes boom too," Mona completed his sentence.

"And if the hook goes boom," Zari sliding her finger across the dotted line, "then that leaves an empty gap where it used to be, like a vacuum."

Nate started to understand where Zari was going. "But time doesn't want to be unstable for long if it can help it," he said, "so it would probably want to do something fast to fill in that vacuum with temporal energy."

"Yep. So, let's say this is Snart." Zari drew a rough stick figure next to the Oculus circle with an arm reaching inside it. "Snart is touching the center of the Oculus, directly connected to the temporal hook. When the bomb goes off, the timeline is sucking in energy from the explosion to patch itself together." She drew an arrow from the stick figure to the dashed lines. "If Snart bonded with the temporal energy when he came into contact with it, then he'd be sucked into the space previously filled by the hook. He'd be…" she paused to draw tiny circles around each dash, "…splintered throughout time itself."

Charlie smiled approvingly. "That's brilliant, Z."

"Still sounds like a big 'if,'" Nate pointed out. "He could've also just not bonded with it and the timeline could've pulled in the temporal energy without him."

"Nate's right," Ray replied. "And, more importantly, Marty already had a theory like this, and it turned out to be false. Mick thought he was seeing Snart, so Marty hypothesized that pieces of Snart were fragmented throughout time, like a time ghost, for lack of a better word. It turned out Mick was just hallucinating and there was no time ghost to see."

Wally turned his head toward Ray. "Okay, but how did he know?" he asked. "How did he test that out?"

Ray shrugged. "I'm not sure. It was his theory, not mine. He just told me his evidence turned out to be false." He looked skeptically at Zari. "I know you're just trying to help, and I want him back as much as you do. Maybe even more. But I've been studying this kind of science for years, so you can trust me when I say this is impossible."

"So was bringing back my brother," Zari replied.

"And saving you from hell," Nora added.

"And getting my shapeshifting back," Charlie commented.

Ray had to admit they were right. The Legends had done plenty of impossible things before. _But bringing Snart back?_ he thought._ After all this time? It can't be possible. It just can't._

"Fine," he relented. "Marty's old notebook is in the top drawer of my desk in the lab. You can see for yourselves what he said…hey!" He jumped out of the way as the Legends stampeded out of the library. "Careful!" he exclaimed as he chased after them. "There's delicate stuff in there!"

In the laboratory, Wally speedily located Professor Stein's old notebook and flipped through the pages until he found one matching Ray's description. The other Legends crowded around to have a look, aside from Ray, who stayed in the doorway keeping a lookout for Mick and Sara. He still wasn't convinced by Zari's theory, and the last thing his original teammates needed was to walk in and discover, yet again, that Snart wasn't coming back.

"It says that Mick had an antenna in his brain," Nora paraphrased after reading the entry, "that would have picked up on Snart's time ghost."

"Except the antenna wasn't actually functioning," Nate continued, "so Stein concluded that Mick was just seeing Snart because of his feelings about losing him."

Mona sighed. "Wow, he really did miss him."

Ray leaned his head into the lab, still remaining in lookout position at the doorway. "You see? There never was a time ghost. Marty knew what he was doing."

Nate leaned in closer to the table and reread the entry. "Unless…"

Ray raised an eyebrow. "Unless? What are you talking about, buddy?"

Nate straightened up and looked across the room at his best friend. "Unless the antenna was a red herring," he suggested.

Zari snapped her fingers. "Exactly," she agreed, barely hiding her excitement under her usual deadpan voice. "Mick might really have been hallucinating, but that doesn't mean Snart isn't still splintered in time. It just means that's not what Mick saw."

Ray looked down in thought. "So," he said slowly as he pondered, "you're saying that Marty's hypothesis may have been true, but his method of analysis was wrong."

"Bingo," Wally said.

"Huh," Ray reacted, taking it in slowly. "That's…astonishing." He was now too intrigued to stay in the doorway and made his way in to join the group. "But it still doesn't prove anything," he said. "If he is in the timeline, like you're saying, how would we even know? And then, if we did know, that still doesn't mean he's alive. He could've died in the explosion and been sucked in anyway."

Nora and Constantine shared a knowing look. "I think we've got a way to check," John said.

* * *

A large space had been cleared out on the laboratory's floor. The lights were dimmed, and several faintly glowing candles formed a circle around John Constantine and Nora Darhk. Nora handed him a small pouch of silver dust. He poured it onto the floor into a strange shape, muttering an incantation at he did. The rest of the Legends kept their distance on the other side of the room.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Wally asked quietly, leaning toward Charlie. He was used to metahumans and time travel, but magic was still relatively new to him.

"Nope," she replied, "but it's never killed us yet."

"It's perfectly safe," Nora answered, apparently able to hear them from across the lab. "John and I are experts."

"She's right, love," John said. "It's a fairly simple spell."

"Then why do you both need to do it?" Wally asked. "Aren't you both, like, super strong magicians?"

"Aye, that we are," John explained, pouring out the last of his pouch, "but, if Snart really is dead, three years is a long time. His soul would be pretty far away from here by now."

Nora continued, "It'll take both of our power to go deep enough to find him. That is, if we find him. If we don't…"

"Then he's alive," Ray finished her sentence, still in disbelief that he was even considering that possibility.

"Well," John corrected him, "more like not dead. Alive might be too strong a word. But we would know he's not as dead as you lot think." He clasped his hands together, stretched his arms, and asked Nate, "Now then, mate, why don't you get one of those things you stashed in the library? Something we can track his soul with." He glanced at Nora, then added. "Make that two things. One for each. Don't want to risk one of us getting lost, do we?"

Nate obediently left the lab and returned with the parka in one hand and the cold gun in the other. "Would these work?" he asked.

"They're perfect, Nate," Nora replied, taking them out of his hands. She gave the cold gun to Constantine and kept the parka for herself. "You guys should stand back," she instructed the Legends. "Try not to do anything that would break our concentration. And definitely don't move anything in the circle."

"Cool," said Wally.

"Unless we start catching on fire or screaming bloody murder," John added. "Then, go ahead and pull us out."

Wally's eyes widened in terror. "Wait, what?"

"Just messing with you, mate," John chuckled, waving the cold gun into the air in no one particular direction. "But do stand back." He turned to Nora. "Ready, love?"

She nodded. "Ready."

The two of them stepped into the circle on opposite ends of the symbol. The sat down cross-legged. Nora placed Leonard's parka in her lap while John did the same with his cold gun. The two of them held onto each other's hands, closed their eyes, and started whispering an incantation. The candles around them grew hotter and glowed brighter. A cold wind blew around the circle, sending chills down the other Legends' spines. The lights flickered on and off, over and over again. Wally involuntarily grabbed Nate's arm in fear. Mona grabbed onto Wally's for the same reason. Still, Nora and Constantine continued to whisper their magic words, focused completely on Leonard Snart's soul. The Legends could hear deep echoes of what they assumed Nora and Constantine were saying, although none of them could understand it enough to be sure.

Suddenly, the wind and echoes stopped. The candles went out and the lights turned back on. Nora and John opened their eyes, gasping for air. Ray ran toward Nora.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

She stood up and stepped out of the circle. "I'm fine," she assured him. "It worked."

"What do you mean, 'it worked'?" Zari asked.

John stepped out of the circle as well. "She means," he explained with a grin, "that Mr. Leonard Snart's soul is not in the realm of the dead. And that means…"

"He's alive," Ray breathed, in shock. The first Legend they'd lost was no longer lost. He couldn't believe it. He took a deep breath, then grabbed Nora in a celebratory hug and exclaimed again, "He's alive!" He let go of her and searched frantically for words. "Oh my…holy…wow…I can't believe…this is amazing!" he finally decided. "We have to tell Sara and Mick. But…how…how are we going to tell them?"

"Easy there, mate," John interrupted him. "I said he's not in the realm of the dead. That just means there's enough life in his soul to keep it out of there, not that we can snap our fingers and have him standing here. If he is embedded in time, and I think that's a likely option, he's still technically outside of existence itself. It's not so much that he's fully alive as it is…"

"As it is that he's not fully dead," Nate said.

John nodded approvingly. "Right, love."

"So what I'm hearing is," Ray said, "he's only mostly dead. And mostly dead…"

Nate finished the quote for him, "…means slightly alive. Great reference, buddy!" He gave him a thumbs up from across the room, then glanced to the side. "Um…Wally? You can let go of me now."

"Oh!" the speedster said, realizing he was still gripping Nate's arm. "My bad." He let go and scooted an extra inch away from him as Mona did the same to him.

"This is great, guys!" Mona exclaimed. "If Mr. Snart is alive, or at least not dead, we can totally bring him back, right?"

Everyone turned to look at Zari. She took a step back from the group. "Hey," she told them, "don't look at me. All I did was figure out where he might be. Even if I'm right, I don't know how to just pull him out."

"Well," Ray reminded her, "you are an expert on how the Waverider works."

"And didn't you make an algorithm for Gideon to hack time?" Charlie asked. "Can't you make another?"

Zari shook her head. "It's not that simple, guys. My algorithm is designed to find loopholes of events that can be changed without significantly altering history. This is way bigger than that. We'd have to find a way to detach whatever's left of Snart from the temporal energy he's bonded to. Then, we'd have to pull every single piece of him out of every single moment in time he's gotten himself embedded into. On top of that, we'd have to hope the process of getting ripped out of time itself piece by piece doesn't kill him. That is way beyond my skill level."

"Hm…" Nate wondered aloud, "I guess it's impossible, then. Unless the Waverider can somehow be in all moments of time at once."

"It can't," Zari said. "Even trying to pull that off would probably break time."

The Legends thought silently, each trying to come up with an idea for how it could be done until Wally stepped forward. "The Waverider can't experience all of time at once," he said, "but something else can. You guys ever heard of the speed force?"

They shook their heads.

"It's this thing speedsters can tap into," he explained. "We use it when we time travel. Which we rarely do!" he quickly added, remembering the Legends' mission to protect the timeline. "It's like a source of power. But it's also a place, like its own dimension. We can run into it like a portal. And when we run into it, we see all of time happen around us because it flows through all of time and space."

"So," Ray said, "you're saying you could bring Snart into the speed force?"

"Oh, definitely not," Wally immediately denied. "No non-speedster can survive in there for long. But what I could do," he suggested, "is use the speed force to run through all of time fast enough to collect all the particles of Snart that are splintered through it in only a matter of seconds."

John considered the idea. "Not a bad proposal," he said, "but you've still got a problem on your hands."

"John's right," Nora agreed. "You'd still have to find a way to split Snart from the temporal energy he's bonded to. As far as I know, there's no spell for that."

"But there is S.T.A.R. Labs," Ray pointed out. "Between me, Zari, Cisco, and Caitlin, we could probably come up with some kind of device to do that."

"Brilliant!" Charlie exclaimed. "Always wanted to see that place after hearing you lot go on about it. So, when do we leave?"

Zari held up a hand to stop her. "Hold it," she said. "This is a really big deal. We can't just all run off to Central City without telling the captain. I mean, we can, but the jump ship would get pretty crowded. More importantly, if any of this goes wrong, how are we going to explain it to Sara and Mick? I trust you guys' brains and all, but when was the last time anything went exactly according to plan?"

"Zari's right," Nate agreed, stepping closer to her side. "Plus, even if it does work, how would we know which Snart we were bringing back? Sure, the 2016 version is the one that got fractured in time, but if he's experiencing all of time as well, then maybe he'll come back only remembering 2014 and be a bad guy again. We don't know."

Mona huffed. "Are you guys kidding me right now?" She used a chair to hop up on top of the nearest table, commanding everyone's attention. "You're talking about one of Captain Lance's best friends," she said. "You all saw the footage. You know it's true. She is literally having the worst time right now. And do you have any idea how many people she's lost over the last few years? It's a lot! If we can bring back one person for her, just one more person she can lean on and talk to, why wouldn't we do it?"

Charlie climbed onto the table with her. "Yeah, that's right, mate," she said, giving Mona a light punch on the arm. She took off her sunglasses, wincing slightly at the brightness of the room, and looked down at the rest of her teammates. "And he isn't just her friend, either. He's a Legend. One of us. What's the one thing the captain always says? The one rule she follows any time any of us get lost?"

The Legends on the ground looked at each other, then back at Mona and Charlie. "Never leave your own behind," they recited.

Charlie snapped her fingers. "There you go! So, are we doing this or not?"

The room fell silent for a moment. Ray broke it with a cheerful announcement. "Sounds like it's time for a classic Legends rescue mission!"

"Yes!" Wally exclaimed, practically jumping with excitement. "Let's do this!"

Zari smiled. "Awesome. I'm down."

Constantine smirked. "I wouldn't mind another handsome face running around the ship."

Nora elbowed him. "Rescue first," she hissed, "flirt later." She turned to her boyfriend. "But seriously, I'm in, too."

Everyone turned to look at Nate, who had been noticeably quiet. Finally, he spoke. "Charlie's right. We're a team, and we don't leave teammates behind."

"Yes!" Mona squealed. "Who's telling Mr. Rory and the captain?"

Ray put his hand on his chest. "It should be me. I knew Snart when he was here. I should be the one to break the news. Wow," he added, mostly to himself, "this is going to be a weird conversation."

* * *

Ray knocked his fist against the metallic entrance to the cargo bay. There was no door, but he still didn't want to surprise Sara and Mick too much before explaining what was going on. What he knew he was about to say was going to shock them enough on its own. "Hey, guys?" he asked. "You done working out? Or should I come back later…"

Sara turned around to face him, leaning her back against one of the cargo bay's many large crates. "Sure, Ray, we're basically done."

Mick, who was in the middle of putting away his weights, barely looked up. "What do you want, Haircut?" he asked.

Ray walked closer to them, fiddling with his hands nervously. "You know how we do crazy things a lot on this ship?" he started, trying to lead into the subject gradually. "Like, things that really should be impossible, and a lot of times actually are impossible, but then we end up doing them…I guess what I'm saying is, we've kind of started expecting the impossible to be possible on this team, right?"

Sara tilted her head and looked at him quizzically, unable to understand where he was heading with this conversation. "What are you talking about, Ray?"

Ray continued, "I'm talking about how, a lot of the time, things aren't what they seem. And things can change. And the way we think about them can change. Especially when someone with a new perspective looks at them and thinks about them in a way we haven't really tried yet."

Mick raised an eyebrow and leaned toward Sara. "Is he making any sense to you?" he asked.

Sara shook her head. "Nope."

"I know I'm not making sense," Ray replied. "But it's because what I'm about to say is going to make even less sense. I'm just trying to prepare you, because seriously, it is a doozy…"

"Just tell us," Sara ordered.

Unable to resist a direct order from his captain, Ray took a deep breath, then gave them the news. "We think Snart might not be dead. And we think we can bring him back."

Sara's eyes widened. If she hadn't already been leaning against something, she would have fallen over. Her mind spun. Leonard Snart…alive? She'd checked the timeline before. There was no way to travel back in time to change events in the Vanishing Point, which meant there was also no way to save him. It couldn't be. It was impossible.

In a blur, Mick pounced on Ray, pinning him to the wall. "Are you telling me," he demanded, his face red, "that my partner's out there? Alive? Right now?"

Ray struggled to speak with Mick's arm so close to his throat. "Yes…kind of…well…"

Sara snapped out of her thoughts enough to pull Mick off Ray. "Let him go, Rory." She let Ray catch his breath before saying, "Ray, I swear, if this is your sick idea of a joke…"

"It's not!" Ray insisted. "The others found out about him this morning. Long story short, Constantine and Nora figured out his soul isn't dead, which means he's not dead. Zari has a theory that he's embedded in time, and Wally thinks we can save him if we get help from Team Flash at S.T.A.R. Labs."

"You'd better not be pulling my leg, Haircut," Mick seethed, looking more than ready to attack again.

"I know it sounds crazy," Ray explained, "but I think, with a little preparation, it could work. We've seen crazier, after all."

Mick reached out and grabbed the front of Ray's shirt intimidatingly. "You listen to me," he growled. "That's my partner you're talking about. This isn't some stupid experiment."

"You're right," Ray said, trying very hard to remain calm with the stronger man still gripping his shirt. "I can't prove anything until we try, but I wouldn't even be telling you if I didn't think we had a chance." Mick grunted and released his shirt. Ray readjusted it as he kept talking, "All we need is to go to Central City and explain everything to Team Flash. I'm sure they'd love to help us. Barry always saw the good in Snart. He wouldn't hesitate to save him if he could."

Mick pointed at him warningly. "If you're wrong about this, Haircut…"

"You'll…burn me alive?" Ray guessed.

Mick nodded.

"Noted," Ray said with a shudder. He turned to look at Sara. "Captain?"

She was staring at the floor, frozen in thought. She felt like she was spiraling downward, reliving every memory and emotion of the mission against Savage. She'd blocked them out for so long, but now she couldn't. Leonard Snart. Her closest friend on the Waverider. The man who had fought side by side with her in 1975 before he even really knew her. The man who had stopped her from killing Professor Stein, now another lost friend. The man who had given up his jacket to keep her warm while they were freezing to death together. The man who had been her card game partner every spare minute of the mission. The man who had blasted his own best friend to protect her, then sacrificed himself to save that same friend. The man who had confessed his feelings for her only hours before his demise. The man she had kissed, then left to die, even though she knew exactly how it felt to die alone. She knew she hadn't had a choice, but that hadn't removed all the guilt._ Leonard could be alive_, she thought. _How could he be alive?_

Ray repeated himself. "Captain?"

"I…I don't…I can't…" she stammered. She looked up from the floor. "The last time I saw him," she said, "he wasn't…him. I mean, he was him, but not the way we knew him."

"The Legion," Ray nodded solemnly. "I know."

Sara continued slowly, struggling to choose her words. "When I came back to life, I was a monster. I had bloodlust. I hurt so many people. I had no control." She began to pace back and forth across the floor. "Snart was a hero. He was our friend. I can't…I can't let him become a monster, Ray."

Ray placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It won't be like that," he said. "We're not putting him in a Lazarus Pit. We're just pulling him back into reality, where he belongs."

She studied his face, searching for any trace of doubt or uncertainty. "If we do this," she asked, "can you promise me that won't happen?"

Ray put his arm down and waited a moment before answering, "I can't. I wish I could, but I really can't promise anything. Except this: he'll be here, he'll be our Snart, and he'll be alive." He stepped away from her and looked at both of his original teammates. "If it were up to me," he said, "I'd do it. But you two were his closest friends, and the last people to see him before he died. It's your call."

Mick and Sara stared at each other silently. Neither of them ever expected to see Leonard Snart again. Now, faced with the possibility, they were almost speechless.

Finally, Mick spoke. "If my partner's not dead," he said simply, "I want him back." He turned his attention toward Sara. "What about you, Captain?" he asked.

Sara locked eyes with him. It was rare for Mick to refer to her as his captain without a trace of sarcasm. She knew how important this was to him, yet he was still deferring to her. He knew it was important to her, too. And he knew the choice she was going to make.

Sara took a deep breath and allowed her thoughts to settle down. "Round everyone up and get them strapped in at the bridge," she ordered Ray. She lifted her head toward the ceiling and called out, "Gideon! Plot a course for S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City!"

"Yes!" Ray exclaimed, rushing off to inform the other Legends.

Sara and Mick remained in the cargo bay for a few more moments. Sara turned her face away from him, fighting back tears. She didn't have time to cry. She had to lead the team. She had to save Leonard. She looked back at Mick. "He's coming back, Mick," she said, her voice faltering with the emotions she tried to push down.

Mick nodded, not saying a word. Sara took a step toward him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tighter than she'd ever hugged him before. She knew he wasn't much of a hugger, but she was too overwhelmed to care. "He's coming back," she whispered.

Sara was surprised to feel Mick's arms around her, hugging her just as tightly. "He's coming back, Sara," he repeated, disbelief still audible in his voice.

The two of them finally let go of each other. "Well," Mick said gruffly, regaining his composure and perpetual scowl, "don't just stand there. We're about to get my partner out of…wherever he is. Can't do that without you doing your dumb captaining thing."

Sara smiled at him. He could hide it under as many layers as he wanted, but Mick was as emotionally overwhelmed as she was, if not more. "You're right, Mick," she said as the two of them hurried out of the cargo bay. "Let's go save our friend."


	8. Operation Save Snart

**A/N: This chapter's pretty long, but you've waited a while to get Snart back, so I didn't want to put it off any longer by splitting this section up. Enjoy! **

* * *

Barry Allen stood in the middle of S.T.A.R. Labs scratching his head and staring at the Legends in front of him. Cisco and Caitlin stood back in the med bay while Iris and Joe sat at the computer by the entrance of the main room. All of them looked equally confused and surprised. "Wow," Barry said. "That…that is one crazy theory. And the craziest part is, I kind of believe it."

"You really think Snart's alive?" Iris asked.

"More like not dead," Ray clarified, "but yeah."

"Only mostly dead," Nate added.

"Which means he's slightly alive," Cisco said, pointing at him with the Twizzler in his hand. "Boom. 'Princess Bride.' Classic."

Joe shook his head in disbelief. "I never thought I'd say this, but I guess we need to save Leonard Snart."

"Of course we do," Barry replied. "We wouldn't be heroes if we didn't." He turned back to the Legends. "And how do we do that, exactly?"

Wally stepped forward to the front of the group and explained, "All you need to do is run with me into the speed force. Instead of focusing on a specific time to run to, we'll just keep going through all of it. We don't know exactly how scattered Snart is, so if we both do it, we'll cover more ground. Er, time, I mean."

Ray continued, "Zari, Cisco, Caitlin, and I will come up with a device you can carry with you that will detect and extract Snart from the timeline as you run."

"Hm…" Caitlin said as she thought, "the biological implications of pulling a person out of the timeline would be difficult, maybe even impossible to predict. How would we even start?"

Ray answered cheerfully, "I don't know, but I'm sure enough scientific minds in a room can figure it out."

John chimed in. "And Nora and I will come up with a spell to stabilize his soul as he's stitched back together, so to speak."

"And then Snart will just…be here?" Barry asked.

Zari shrugged. "That's the goal."

Barry turned to Sara. "You're the leader on this," he said. "Do you really think it will work?"

Sara nodded. "I trust my team, and I trust yours."

"I don't," Mick interjected, "but I want my partner back, so I'll live with it."

Cisco rolled his eyes and took a bite out of his Twizzler. "Okay, Heatwave," he said. "We're all friends here now, remember?"

"Yeah," Iris reminded him. "You even went to our wedding."

"There was free booze," he replied, "and I spent most of my time roasting Nazis."

Charlie took a step toward Cisco. "Heatwave, you said? I suppose that makes you the naming bloke. I've heard a bit about you."

Cisco moved his Twizzler to his other hand and reached out to shake hers. "Cisco Ramon," he said. "And you are…British Vixen?"

"Ha! No," she laughed. "I'm a shapeshifter. I just like this shape. The name's Charlie."

Cisco tilted his head to the side. "You got a last name, or an alias, or…?"

"Nope," she replied. "Just Charlie."

He nodded and narrowed his eyes, analyzing her appearance for possible nickname inspiration. "We'll work on that."

Barry returned the conversation back to its focus. "We'll help you get your teammate back, Legends. Snart may not have started out a hero, but he risked everything to save you guys, and he helped me when I was trying to save Iris from Savitar. Rescuing him is the least we can do."

John cracked his knuckles. "Brilliant," he said. "Better get to work on that spell." He looked around the room. "Don't suppose you've got any dragon blood or unicorn hair lying around, have you?"

"Um…no?" Barry replied, unsure if either of those things actually existed.

"Ah, not a problem, love," John assured. "I'll just pop out and have a look around. You can always find some if you search hard enough." He strolled out the door of the main room and into the hallway.

Nora sighed. "And I," she said, "will make sure he doesn't summon any demons to Central City in the process." She quickly followed him out.

Zari shouted after her, "You'd better not take any blood from Wixtable!"

"Who?" Iris asked.

"My pet dragon," Zari answered. "Well, technically younger me's pet dragon. Nate and I found him when he was still an egg, so he's kind of our baby."

Cisco's eyes widened. "Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons," he said reverently. He turned aside to Caitlin and added, "Okay, but seriously, I want a pet dragon now."

"You're not getting a pet dragon, Cisco," Caitlin said immediately.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Several reasons," she answered, "but the biggest one is you can barely even take care of your house plants."

"First of all, ouch," he said, "second, rude, and third…yeah, that's actually a good point." He took another bite out of his Twizzler, then said to the rest of the group, "So, you want to go down to my lab and start building this baby, or what?" He led Ray, Zari, and Caitlin out the door, explaining as he did, "I should warn you, some of the stuff I'm working on in there is pretty epic, so you'd better get ready to have your minds blown."

"Do I need to remind you that we live on a time traveling spaceship?" Zari asked.

They were far down the hallway before the others could hear Cisco's response. Barry turned to Wally. "We don't know how intense this is going to get," he said, "so we should probably do some extra training to make sure we're up for it."

"Agreed," Wally said. "See you in the speed lab!" He ran past Barry and out of the room, flashing lightning as he went.

Mona stepped forward toward Barry. "So…you're the Flash?" she asked, amazed. "Like, _the_ Flash? The hero of Central City?"

Barry laughed. "Yeah, that's me. I'm the Flash."

"Oh, wow," Mona breathed. "That is so cool. I'm a huge fan, Mr. Allen."

Barry smiled and looked away humbly. "Hey, I'm just a guy trying to help people."

"Tell any more people and that secret identity won't be so secret," Sara teased.

"Hey," Barry replied, "it's not like I disappeared for five years, then as soon as I come home, a vigilante about my size conveniently starts showing up all over town. I could be a lot more obvious." Nate nodded in silent agreement.

Mona kept gushing. "No, you don't understand, I really love the Flash! I've been keeping up on everything, ever since Iris West started her blog…oh my gosh, Iris West-Allen." She looked back and forth between Barry and Iris as the realization hit her. "You blogged about the Flash, and now you're married to the Flash? That's, like, straight out of a romance novel." She darted to the space between them. "Tell me literally everything!"

Iris chuckled uncomfortably. "Um…maybe another time."

"There'd be a lot to tell," Barry said, "and we have a Legend to save. Rain check, okay?" He turned to Iris and Joe. "You guys good? Need anything before I join Wally?"

"Nah, you go ahead," Joe answered. "Could use a coffee from Jitters, though," he muttered to himself.

Mona jumped and raised her hand. "I can get you coffee, Detective West!" she offered.

Everyone in the room turned to look at her, surprised.

"What?" she asked. "We're working with Team Flash, _the_ Team Flash. I want to help with something! Plus, delivering food is kind of my thing."

"She's got a point," Nate agreed.

"Cool!" Mona exclaimed. "I'll be back in a minute!" She sprinted away.

Barry turned to Sara. "If you guys need anything, just come down and let me know." He walked out of the room and into the hallway, a notable contrast to Wally's speedy exit.

Sara turned to Nate. "I'm going to check on some things on the ship," she said. "You stay with them." She gestured toward Mick and Charlie, who were standing together near the med bay. "Try to keep them out of trouble. And the rest of the Legends, for that matter. Just keep everyone out of trouble."

Nate groaned. "Come on, everyone else got a real job." Sara turned around and started to walk out, not acknowledging the question. "Hey!" Nate called after her. "What about you? What are you even checking on?"

"Just stay here, Nate," she said without stopping.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

She left the room, leaving Nate, Charlie, Mick, Iris, and Joe staring at each other.

* * *

"Gideon!" Sara called out as she entered the Waverider, which was parked on top of the S.T.A.R. Labs roof. "When Snart comes through, I have a feeling he's going to need medical attention. I don't know what he'll need exactly, but it'll probably require more future tech than S.T.A.R. Labs has to offer. Make sure the med bay is prepared to accept him immediately."

"Yes, Captain Lance," Gideon replied as Sara walked toward the bridge.

"Also," Sara ordered, "when Ray and the others get their device thing finished, I'm going to want you to run an analysis of risk."

"To Mr. Snart, or to the timeline?"

She hesitated. "Let's say both."

"Captain Lance," Gideon said, "if it is your intention to rescue Mr. Snart at all costs, that is understandable. You two were quite close."

Sara crossed her arms. "I don't remember talking to you about that, Gideon."

"I have sensors everywhere, Captain Lance," Gideon reminded her. "Captain Hunter was not the strongest believer in giving his crew their privacy."

Sara nodded. One thing that had changed on the Waverider under her leadership was the limits of Gideon's omniscience. Gideon still observed nearly everything on the ship, of course. She had to. Her knowledge had saved the team more times than they could count. But Sara had scaled back a bit from Rip's secret DNA collecting and spying on the Legends' dreams. That wasn't her style.

"Well, Gideon," Sara said, "I think you know what I'm going to ask next."

"You wish for me to conduct an additional scan of the timeline?" the disembodied voice guessed.

"Yes," Sara confirmed, "and don't get cheeky about it this time. If the timeline is in bad shape while the speedsters are pulling Snart out, things could go very wrong. Understand?"

"Yes, Captain Lance."

"Good."

Gideon scanned the timeline for what must have been the hundredth time in the past two days. A few minutes later, she announced, "The timeline is free from irregularities, Captain. Perfect for Mr. Snart's arrival."

That last phrase made Sara feel unexpectedly warm inside. Then again, maybe she should have expected it. She was going to see Leonard for the first time in three years. She was excited. She was ecstatic. Her friend was coming home after being dead, or close enough to it, for three years. She was finally going to see him again, after years of believing she never would. But she was also worried. _Things are so different now_, she thought. _The team is different. The mission is different. The world is different. I'm different. What if he's different too? Or what if he's the same, and doesn't like the things that are different?_

She tried to dismiss the thought. During the Legends' first mission, she had been trapped in 1958 and lived two whole years before seeing Leonard or any of her teammates again. Then, she'd picked up right where she'd left off. She'd rejoined the team as if she had never left to begin with. And Leonard had still been there for her. It never seemed to bother him that she'd spent two years returning to her old assassin life. He knew she was still Sara. _We've done this before_, she reasoned. _Why would this time be any different?_

_Ava_, she thought, answering her own question. She was still picking up the pieces from her recently ended relationship. She'd be lying if she said she didn't still feel something for Ava. Even now, she was tempted to tell Gideon to call her. It had been her habit to call Ava and tell her whenever she was about to embark on a particularly risky or unconventional mission. Of course, she would usually go ahead and do whatever she wanted regardless of Ava's advice, a fact that may have played a larger role than she wanted to admit in their breakup. But she still found those conversations enjoyable and comforting, and she still missed them. If Leonard wanted to pick up right where they left off at the Oculus…no. She couldn't. Not while Ava was still on her mind.

_This is selfish_, she chided herself. _Leonard is coming back to life and all you can think about is your relationship problems? Forget Ava. Forget the Oculus. Just think about how wonderful it will be to have him back. Worrying about it is only going to make it harder for you to do your job. The team is about to do something unprecedented and they need their captain's support. So get your head straight and focus!_

"Thank you, Gideon," she said, snapping herself out of her thoughts. She headed out of the Waverider, hoping to find something to occupy her thoughts elsewhere.

* * *

"If I hear the word 'Snart' one more time," Zari said, "it's going to stop sounding like a word." She stood back from the clear dry erase board in Cisco's lab and analyzed her equation, then stepped back toward it and changed the last variable. "Try it now, Cisco."

Cisco nodded and entered the equation into his computer, prompting it to run a mathematical simulation of Zari's algorithm. "It's looking good so far," he said as he watched the numbers scroll. "Almost there…almost…got it!" He flipped the screen around to face Caitlin, Ray, and Zari. "Bam! Perfect simulation. Fiftieth time's the charm, right?"

"Well, I don't think it was actually fifty…" Ray started to correct him.

"Twenty, fifty, a hundred, who cares?" Cisco cut him off. "The point is, if we have the algorithm right, we can start using it to build that hardware."

Nate knocked on the open door three times, then walked in. "Hey, science friends," he said, "how's progress going?"

"Great!" Ray answered, waving him closer. "We've finally found an algorithm that works."

"So now we get to start building this sucker," Cisco finished for him.

Caitlin joined in, "I think we still have some DNA samples from Snart upstairs. We can use those to test out the device's ability to detect Snart's particles in the timeline."

"Snart's particles," Nate repeated thoughtfully. His eyes widened. "Snarticles!" He looked to Zari for approval and got only a disgusted grimace.

Cisco looked up from his computer with an annoyed expression. "How about you leave the nicknaming to the professionals, okay, pal?"

"Right," Nate said, pulling up a chair next to Ray. "Sorry. My bad." He looked around the room, taking in all the strange contraptions and scraps of Cisco's current and former projects. "Hey," he asked, returning his focus to Cisco, "this might be a dumb question, but can't you use your vibes to pull Snart out?"

Cisco squinted at him. "My vibes."

"Yeah."

Cisco looked back down at his computer as he explained, "First of all, pulling a dude out of time itself might be beyond the powers of even a breacher like Vibe. Second…I don't really do that now."

Zari and Ray looked at him, shocked.

"Wait," Ray asked, "you're not Vibe anymore? What happened?"

Caitlin explained, "We made a metahuman cure. Cisco decided to take it."

"You gave up your powers?" Zari asked. "Why would you do that?"

Cisco looked up at her. "We don't all carry our superpowers around on a detachable bracelet, okay, Last Airbender? I wanted to just be Cisco Ramon for a while, and now I am. That's it."

While the other Legends tried to wrap their heads around the idea of Cisco not being Vibe, Ray stood up and handed him a sketch he'd drawn on a piece of graph paper. "Well, Cisco Ramon is the guy who can help us put this together," he said. "It's pretty rough, but I think it's a solid start."

"Awesome," Cisco said, looking the design over. "Could be prettier, but we can work on that later. Now, would it attach to the suit here, or…"

Cisco and Ray discussed the details of the device's design. Caitlin walked across the room to join them. Zari strolled over to Nate's side and took over Ray's chair. "You good?" she asked.

"Good?" Nate replied, laughing a little at her question. "Why wouldn't I be good?"

"Because," she said, keeping her voice just low enough not to distract the intensely focused scientists crowded around Cisco's desk, "you weren't too excited about the whole Snart resurrection thing this morning. Now you seem pretty into it. Did you change your mind, or are you hiding something?"

Nate shrugged. "I'm not hiding anything, Z," he assured her. "I still don't completely understand the whole good Snart, bad Snart thing, but Sara's a good captain and a good friend. If she thinks he's worth bringing back, I trust her. Besides, have you noticed how she's been acting today? I know she's not exactly jumping up and down about it, but this is the happiest I've seen her about anything since…you know…"

"Since she and Ava broke up?" Zari guessed.

"Yeah."

Zari nodded thoughtfully. "It's true. Not to mention Mick. I'm surprised he hasn't started a celebratory bonfire yet. Speaking of which," she eyed her boyfriend suspiciously, "you didn't leave him alone in his former nemesis's headquarters with nothing to keep him busy while in an unusually emotional state, did you?"

"No!" he immediately denied. "He's with Charlie, Joe, and Iris. Mona went to get them coffee. I'm sure they're all fine."

"How sure?"

"One hundred percent." She continued to stare at him. "Ninety percent." Still no change in her reaction. "Eighty-five. Eighty? Okay, yeah, I'll go check"

"Good call," she said, patting him on the back supportively. He hurried back to the main room of S.T.A.R. Labs. Zari walked over to join the circle Ray, Cisco, and Caitlin had formed around Ray's sketch. "All right," she said, "what are we building first?"

* * *

Sara wandered the hallway of S.T.A.R. Labs. She'd circled around this floor twice already. There were too many feelings churning inside her right now and she didn't like it. Happy feelings. Excited feelings. Anxious feelings. Far too many feelings. She had to have a clear head if she was going to lead the team and save Snart. She hoped all the walking would help, but so far, it had only made a miniscule difference.

"Hey!" Barry said, now wearing his Flash suit with the hood down, as he walked around the corner from the opposite direction. "Sara! You looking for something?"

"What? No," she said, stopping in her tracks. "Just…" she gestured vaguely to the long hallway, "clearing my head, I guess." He continued walking until he was standing in front of her. "Aren't you supposed to be training with Wally?" she asked.

"Yeah," Barry replied. He held up two dark-colored rectangles that looked like some kind of strange energy bars. "Working out makes us hungry. Had to grab these from Cisco."

"Ah. Makes sense." She nearly turned to go, but the concerned look on Barry's face stopped her. "What?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

Barry shook his head. "No, but I think there's something you need to talk about."

Sara raised her eyebrows. "Me? What do I need to talk about? Is something up with the plan, or…"

"No, the plan's fine," he said. "At least, it seems like it. We won't really know until we actually go through with it." He placed his hand against the wall of the hallway and leaned against it casually. "Wally told me what happened last night with the Rocket Fuel. Apparently, that's how you guys found out Snart was alive? Indirectly, at least."

Sara chuckled. "Wally's a born Legend. Screwing things up for the better is what we do."

Barry smiled. "He's come a long way, you know. I'm proud of him. Even if he sometimes still thinks getting drunk with a shapeshifter on a flying time machine is a good idea."

"To be fair," Sara pointed out, "it sounded like it was more Charlie's idea than his."

"True." Barry looked away, then back at Sara. "But I wanted to ask about you."

She was surprised. "What about me?"

"Wally told me how you and Mick reacted to Charlie turning into Snart," Barry explained. "Mick I understand. They were partners for years. But I wouldn't have expected that strong of a reaction from you. Then, I remembered the look on your face when we met Leo on Earth-X, and how fast you two clicked, and…I guess I was just wondering, were you and Snart close?"

Sara turned sideways to lean her back against the wall. "You could say that," she answered. "He was my friend. A good friend." She felt her feelings start to churn faster and faster and tried to mentally slow them back down.

"I see," Barry nodded understandingly. "I'm sorry about what happened. I know we're about to undo it, kind of, but I always felt a little responsible. Proud of him for making the right choice, of course, and happy that he did, but still a little responsible. I pushed him to start thinking like a hero, and in the end, that's what got him killed. Or, not killed. Man, this is still weird to talk about."

"You weren't the one who left him to die," Sara muttered. She instantly regretted letting that little glimpse of her emotions out, but it had escaped her mouth too quickly to do anything about it.

Barry raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter. We're bringing him back. That's what's important."

Barry was not convinced. "Sara, if you wanted to hold all your thoughts and emotions to yourself forever, you picked the wrong superhero to team up with. This isn't Team Arrow and I'm not Oliver. We believe in sharing our feelings and supporting each other here. Joe actually thinks we share too much," he added with a slight laugh.

"Joe might have a point," Sara teased.

"Come on, Sara," Barry said. "Tell me what happened."

"You know what happened."

"Not really. Ray told me that Snart sacrificed himself to save the team. Nothing more detailed than that." He leaned in closer to her. "What happened, Sara? Talk to me."

She could only resist his friendly face for so long. "There was something called the Oculus," Sara explained. "We had to blow it up. It's a long story why. There was a failsafe that had to be held down for the bomb we planted to go off, which meant that someone had to stay behind in the explosion." She paused, then continued, "It was just the three of us. Me, Rory, and Snart. Mick volunteered to stay, but Snart wouldn't let him. He knocked him out and took his place, then told me to get Mick out of there. So…I did." Her voice faltered. There was something else that had happened between Leonard telling her to go and her carrying Mick back to the ship. Something she had never revealed to anyone. Barry noticed the slight change in her voice but said nothing about it. "I mean," she asked rhetorically, "what was I going to do? Let the explosion take out all three of us? Mick wasn't getting back to the ship on his own. And Snart…he just wanted to save Mick. It was literally the last thing he ever asked of me. It's not like I could say no." She could feel herself getting more emotional and hated it, but the words were coming out faster than she knew how to stop them. "You know," she continued, "he rarely ever asked anything of me. Ever. People say he was this villain who only cared about himself, but he wasn't. He did care. He was so…so…oh, this is ridiculous." Sara finally put the brakes on her train of thought. She straightened up and looked at Barry. "Turns out he survived all along, so it doesn't matter. Now you know my secret. You happy, Flash?"

Barry knew there was something Sara wasn't saying, but he also knew she had reached her limit of emotional sharing, as least for a while. He reluctantly decided to give her some space. "I don't know if happy's the right word," he answered, "but thanks for telling me what happened. It does explain a few things." He paused, then added, "Don't worry, Sara. We'll bring him back. I promise."

"Good," she said. "Then I think I'll see how the inventors are doing. See you in a minute, Barry." She walked briskly away. Barry easily could have chased her down and asked her more questions, and did seriously consider the option, but ultimately decided against it. He returned to the speed lab.

* * *

Later that evening, the Legends and Team Flash gathered around the Waverider's unusually crowded bridge. Two circular devices were plugged into Gideon's system, one in Cisco's hands and one in Ray's. Gideon ran multiple tests, taking her time with each one.

"How much longer?" Mick demanded, pounding his fist impatiently against the wall. "Do Haircut's whatchamacallits work or not, Gideon?"

"We're definitely not calling them 'Haircut's whatchamacallits'," Cisco muttered under his breath.

"Almost finished, Mr. Rory," Gideon answered. "I would appreciate a bit of patience."

"Patience!" Mick paced across the floor. "I'll give you patience when my partner is standing in front of me again. Do they work or not?"

Charlie stepped in his way. "Easy there, mate," she said calmly, trying to soothe him. "You heard the bot. Just sit down a minute, all right?"

Mick glared at her menacingly. When she didn't flinch, he gave up and took a seat in the nearest chair. "I need a beer," he growled.

"I got it, Mr. Rory!" Mona exclaimed. She dashed off to the kitchen.

"I think she's still working off the excitement of meeting the Flash," Sara said to the suited-up superhero beside her. "I'm going to have to deal with a hyper, obsessive teammate now. Thanks a lot, Barry."

Barry smiled. "I'm flattered," he said, "but it'll wear off."

"Um…was she this excited when she met me?" Wally asked, looking to the Legends for answers. "Because I don't remember her acting like that. Did I just miss it?"

Zari and Nate shared a look. "Yeah, totally," Zari said, trying to sound convincing. "She was just…embarrassed."

"Absolutely," Nate said, backing her up. "Equal amounts of excitement all around, buddy."

Wally grinned, completely buying it. "Awesome."

"Analysis completed," Gideon announced as Mona returned and placed a beer in Mick's hand. "According to my diagnostics, the device should be successful in retrieving Mr. Snart from the timeline."

"Yes!" Cisco exclaimed, high-fiving Ray.

"Anything else we need to know, Gideon?" Sara asked.

"I have run an analysis of risk to Mr. Snart's life and the timeline," the A.I. replied. "Both resulted in acceptably low levels of risk. However, due to the unusual nature of this procedure, I should warn you that the margin of error of my calculations regarding the timeline is higher than ideal."

"English!" Mick grunted.

"She's saying that her calculations say it should be safe for both Snart and the timeline," Caitlin translated, "but because no one has done anything like this to the timeline before, there is no data to compare it to, which means there's a slight chance she could be wrong simply due to not knowing."

"Precisely, Dr. Snow," Gideon agreed.

"I thought Gideon knew everything," Charlie remarked skeptically.

"I know many things, Miss Charlie," Gideon replied. "I know that I have ninety percent confidence that this plan to save Mr. Snart will not endanger the timeline. However, the remaining ten percent cannot be predicted by any human or artificial intelligence without data that does not exist. The only source of this sort of information about time itself would have been the Time Masters, but without access to their data, the highest certainty I can provide is ninety percent."

Mona turned to Sara. "Ninety percent sounds pretty good," she said.

"I'll take those odds," Mick nodded.

"An ideal percentage would be ninety-five or higher," Ray admitted, "but under the circumstances, I agree."

Barry also turned toward the leader of the Legends. "It's your call, Captain. Are we doing this?"

Sara looked down at the screen in front of her. A little green dot glowed next to each component of the device, declaring that it was functional. She was so close to saving Snart. Ninety percent was a lot, and the timeline had taken worse hits before. She looked up and faced her team. "We're doing this," she said.

* * *

Barry and Wally stood in the speed lab near the entrance to the pipeline, suits on. Cisco fastened one device to each of their chests over their lightning bolt logos. Then, he joined Zari and Ray at the observation desk, which Zari had just finished recalibrating to track the new devices. "Speedsters ready," Zari said into her comms.

Iris, Charlie, and Joe took their seats at the computers in the main room. They tapped into the system so that Wally's and Barry's vitals were visible, plus an extra open section for Snart's when he came through. To the side was a bar measuring dark matter and temporal energy activity. At the moment, all were at normal levels. Iris sat in front of Barry's chart. Joe took his place in front of Wally's. Charlie scooted over to the dark matter and temporal energy charts. "Trackers ready," Iris said.

Up on the Waverider, Nate took his position in the bridge, facing a map of the timeline. They all trusted Gideon's ninety percent certainty, but it seemed like a good idea to have someone watching the timeline just in case. "Timeline ready," he said.

In the ship's med bay, Caitlin tried hard to contain her curiosity of all the futuristic medical equipment surrounding her. Mona stood beside her as her designated assistant. She flipped a couple of switches, powering up the last piece of technology she had a feeling they would need. "Med bay ready," she said.

Nora, Sara, and Mick stood in the same large, open room as Iris, Joe, and Charlie. "Just a warning," Nora said with a look toward the tracker team, "once John gets here, it might get a little creepy. If it freaks you out, just keep your eyes on the screens and don't look up."

"That's not very comforting," Joe said.

Nora ignored his comment and turned back to Sara and Mick. "John and I need to form a connection with Snart's soul. You two were, I mean are, his best friends. You're our best chance at getting through to him."

"How do we do that?" Mick asked. He was uncharacteristically solemn. The reality of Snart's return had removed most of his usual cynicism and gruffness.

"I'll use my power to bring Sara in with us," Nora explained. "John will use his for you, Mick. Don't worry about doing any magic. The two of us will do that. Just concentrate on Snart. Okay?"

Sara took a deep breath, then let it out. She could barely believe this was actually happening. "Okay," she said.

Just then, John Constantine walked into the room. "Sorry for the wait," he apologized. "Nearly forgot to add the crushed phoenix feathers." He turned toward Joe and Iris. "You do not want to get me started on phoenixes. At all."

"John!" Nora said, clapping her hands to get his attention.

"Ah! Right, love. Here we go." He pulled a silver bowl out of one of his coat pockets and a small pouch out of the other. He set the bowl in the middle of the floor, then took a handful of powder out of the pouch. He poured the rest of the pouch's contents into the bowl, then took out a lighter and set it on fire. Mick moved to step closer, but Sara blocked him with her arm. John handed off the empty pouch to Nora then cupped both his hands around the remaining handful of powder, whispered an incantation three times, then blew it into the air. He and Nora nodded at each other, then stepped in toward the small fire. Sara and Mick took their places on either side so that they were each between the two magicians.

"Magic ready," Nora said. She closed her eyes and reminded her teammates, "Remember, don't think about anything else that's happening. Just close your eyes and focus on Snart."

In the speed lab, Barry and Wally crouched down into ready position. At the observation desk, Cisco announced into his microphone, "Operation Save Snart is a go. Start running in five…four…three…two…one!"

Barry and Wally took off, bolting into the pipeline at top speed. While they built up momentum, John and Nora began chanting. Sara and Mick shut their eyes and found themselves in a blank white space. John and Nora were still with them, but the space was otherwise completely empty.

"Where are we?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, and where's my partner?" Mick added.

"We're between time and space," Nora answered. "Just stay calm and focus. Try to feel Snart's presence."

Back in S.T.A.R. Labs, the lights in the main room went dark, although the computers continued to function normally. Iris stared at the four Legends, apparently in a trance surrounding John's small fire. John and Nora continued to chant their magic words softly and Iris thought she could hear echoes of it coming from all sides of the room. "Dad?" she said uneasily. "Are you seeing this?"

Joe didn't look up from his screen. "I'm trying not to."

The speedsters kept running and finally spotted the portal to the speed force. They jumped in at the same time, keeping up their speed as they ran through it. Memories of the past and projections of the future surrounded them on all sides. But they weren't here to find a specific time. They were here to find a person. They ignored the visions they passed and concentrated on Snart.

At the observation desk, lights began to glow and flash. "It's working!" Ray exclaimed.

"Vitals, how are we looking?" Cisco asked into his comms.

"Good," Iris replied, "but we haven't registered Snart's yet." Suddenly, the empty chart flickered on. "Never mind," she said, quickly swiveling closer to it. "Snart just registered. His numbers are barely there, but they're growing." The numbers in front of her increased faster and faster. "Holy crap, they're really growing!"

Zari looked down at the charts in front of her. "Looks like we're eighty percent there. It shouldn't take too long for the speedsters to extract the remaining twenty. Caitlin, Mona, get ready."

"Roger that," Caitlin said into her comms, still in position in the Waverider's med bay.

Nora, John, Sara, and Mick stood still in the empty space. Something flickered in the center of their circle. It was only a few specks, too small and faint to create a full image, and it was gone in a minute. It appeared again, for slightly longer, then vanished again. "Snart!" Mick shouted. "Where did he go?"

"Easy, love," Constantine warned him. "His spirit's getting stronger, but we want to ease him back into reality. The best thing you can do for him is stand back and concentrate."

Mick hated concentrating. But he didn't hate Snart, so he did as Constantine said.

Sara shut her eyes and tried to focus on Leonard. Not knowing exactly how to feel someone's soul's presence, she tried to recall her memories of him. She'd pushed them to the back of her mind for a long time, but now it was time to let them surface. She remembered the bar fight in 1975, their first day on the team. The Soviet gulag in 1986 when she nearly shot Professor Stein. The engine room when they nearly froze to death. Mick's mutiny against Rip that led to Leonard marooning him far away. The night in Nanda Parbat when he reappeared for the first time in two years of her life, minus a hand, to tell them the identity of Chronos. Card games. Conversations they'd had about Mick. Conversations they'd had about each other. Me and you.

_Me and you_. The thought swirled around in her head over and over. _Me and you. Me and you_.

Something larger started to materialize in the space between them. Something that looked a lot less like random specks and a lot more like Leonard Snart.

The charts at the observation desk started to beep faster and faster. "Ninety-eight percent!" Ray declared.

"Whoo!" Cisco cheered. "We're almost there. Bring him home, Barry!"

"And Wally," Zari added.

"That was implied," Cisco said.

"Oi, timeline watcher," Charlie asked Nate through the comms system, "any problems on your end?"

Nate shook his head, still staring at the map in front of him. "None that I can see."

"Brilliant," she replied as she checked her own screen. "We've got a minor rise in temporal energy, but it's still well within safe levels."

Sara could feel something growing stronger near her. She didn't know how to tell if it was Snart, but she didn't know what else it could be. It felt like it was pulling on her, as if trying to grab onto her. She could feel fear. Fear of slipping away. Fear of not making it through. Her thoughts changed from speaking to herself to speaking to him. _Don't let go_, she thought. _Hold on. Just hold on. You're the strongest and bravest of us all, Leonard. You can do this. Come back to me_.

A blast of light flashed through the empty space, throwing the four of them back. They awoke on the floor of S.T.A.R. Labs, their trance broken. Mick gasped for air, then scrambled to his feet. "Snart!" he called out. He ran to Joe, Iris, and Charlie. "Where is he? Did he make it?"

"Just wait a second," Iris told him. She spoke into her comms, "Barry, are you out? Did you find him?"

The numbers on the observation desk's monitors reached one hundred. Barry and Wally catapulted out of the speed force and back into the pipeline. They gradually slowed down their pace until they could stop and catch their breath. "I'm here, Iris," Barry said.

"And Snart?" she asked. John, Nora, Sara, Mick, Charlie, and Joe crowded around her, eagerly awaiting his response. The team members on each of the other ends of the comms system fell silent, also waiting.

In the pipeline, Wally waved at Barry from where he'd stopped, about five feet away. "Barry, look!" he cried.

Barry hurried over and saw, lying on the ground before Wally, Leonard Snart. He was unconscious and the clothes he was wearing were torn and covered in burn marks, but it was him. Barry knelt down, took his pulse, and smiled. Snart was alive. "We got him!" Barry announced. "He made it!"

"Oh yeah, baby!" Cisco exclaimed, pulling Ray and Zari into a group hug. "That's what I'm talking about!"

Iris and Joe each let out a sigh of relief. "Wow," Joe said. "That really worked."

"They did it," Charlie said with a gleeful laugh. "They bloody did it."

Sara and Mick turned to face each other, neither of them finding the right words to say to the other. "I…I can't believe it," Sara finally said. Mick simply nodded. He felt the same way.

"We'll have him up to the med bay in a second," Barry's voice said through the speaker. "Everyone, just hang tight."

He and Wally carried Snart between the two of them and zoomed out of S.T.A.R. Labs and into the Waverider, dropping him off in the operating chair beside Caitlin.

"Oh my gosh," Mona gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth as she stared at him.

Caitlin snapped into action. "Mona, we need to stay on task now. Hand me those gloves. Gideon," she looked vaguely upward, not entirely sure where to direct her question, "I need you to run all the tests you've got, stat." She leaned in closer and examined his face, then the rest of him. "A few first degree burns on his arms, possibly some minor second degree," she said, mostly to herself although Mona could hear her. "Also some bruising. Nothing life threatening by appearance. Breathing seems shallow, but steady. Stethoscope, Mona?"

While the two of them examined Snart, the rest of the Legends and Team Flash made their way quickly up onto the Waverider. As they approached the entrance to the med bay, Caitlin stood in the doorway, blocking them. "He's stable," she informed them. "Gideon's working on the last of her tests as we speak. He's got some outer damage, but nothing medical supplies from the future can't fix."

"So…he's okay?" Ray asked.

Caitlin smiled. "Yep. He's okay."

Mick tried to peer over Caitlin's shoulder. "Is he awake?" he asked.

Caitlin shook her head. "Still unconscious, and I put him on a sedative to keep him that way. His body just went through the impossible. He needs to recharge."

Sara felt her heartbeat quicken at the thought of being so close to Leonard again. "Can we see him?" she asked.

Caitlin gestured to the crowd in front of her. "Well, not all of you. It's not that big of a room. He needs space to breathe, after all."

Barry waved his hand to get her attention. "Sara and Mick should see him," he suggested. "Just them. We can wait."

Sara looked at him with surprise. He smiled at her with an understanding look and gestured toward the door of the med bay.

Caitlin found that idea acceptable. "Fine," she said. "Sara and Mick can come in. The rest of you need to wait your turn. Okay?"

Mick and Sara walked silently into the med bay while the others retreated. Mona waved at them. "We did it, guys," she said with a grin. "You got your friend back."

The two older Legends didn't respond. They couldn't believe their eyes. Leonard Snart was lying right there in front of them, three years after they thought they'd never see him again. Mick was frozen as if in a daze. He didn't know what to do. Sara gave Mick's hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance, not taking her eyes off Leonard for a second. It was hitting her now just how much she'd missed seeing that face. She let go of Mick's hand and slowly walked around to the other side of the chair. She pulled over the stool Caitlin had been sitting on and sat on it, scooting as close as she could to Leonard's side. Mick grabbed a chair from the other side of the room and did the same on the opposite side of him. Sara felt a tear escape her eye and wiped it away, hoping Mick and Mona wouldn't see it first.

"Hi, Leonard," she whispered, saying his first name aloud for the first time in far too long. "Welcome home."

Mick looked at her and smiled, then turned his gaze back to Snart. "Yeah," he said. "Good to have you back, partner."

Meanwhile, Barry, Iris, Joe, Cisco, and Wally joined the rest of the Legends in the parlor. "We did it, mates!" Charlie exclaimed, pulling a bottle of scotch out of one of Sara's cabinets. "Who wants to celebrate?"

"Don't jinx it, Charlie," Zari warned her. "He's still not awake yet. Wait until he's walking around again. Then you can throw a party."

"I'll hold you to that, Z," Charlie replied with a mischievous wink.

Joe sank down into one of the few unoccupied arm chairs and sighed. "Just when I think our world can't get any crazier," he said, "you guys show up using magic to bring a guy back from the dead."

"And technology," Ray added. "Don't forget that."

"Magic and tech," Cisco chuckled. "Pretty cool when they work together, right?"

A small smile spread across Nora's face. "I'd say so," she said with a look toward Ray.

Barry put his arm around Iris. "That was amazing," he said to the group. "We really did the impossible today. We should all be proud of ourselves."

"Yeah," Nate agreed. "We all worked together and got Snart out of the timeline. That's pretty impressive stuff. And we didn't even screw up the timeline to do it, so that's extra points right there."

Suddenly, the floor shook beneath them, knocking them off their balance.

"Was that an earthquake?" Iris asked.

It shook again, this time more violently. The windows facing out from the bridge went from showing a rooftop view of Central City to only darkness. The ground shook a third time.

"Bollocks!" John shouted, grabbing onto the wall to keep his balance.

Nate turned to look at John. "Did…did I just jinx it?"

"What do you think, you bloody moron?" John asked. The ship shook again, and this time the team could hear strange sounds coming from the darkness outside the ship. "Brace yourselves, Flash and friends," John announced, "I think that margin of error is about to come back to bite us."


	9. Quakes, a Storm, and Pirates

**The Oculus, Vanishing Point**

"Get him out of here!"

"No!"

"Just do it."

Leonard stood still, his hand on the fail-safe and his eyes fixed on Sara. This was the last time he was ever going to see her. He didn't dare look away, he didn't even blink. He knew he was giving up his chance for the future he wanted the second he took Mick's place, but he wasn't about to waste the last few seconds he had left to look at that beautiful, freckled face. Which was why he noticed that she wasn't running away. She was coming toward him. _What is she doing?_ Leonard's thoughts raced as he mentally panicked. _She has to go. She has to take Mick to the ship. He has to survive. She has to survive. They can't die here. Not like this. Why isn't she leaving?_

Her eyes met his and the look she gave him answered all his questions. She grabbed his arm and kissed him. He closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, touching his forehead to hers. He felt something warm and beautiful filling his heart. It only took an instant for him to identify what it was. Love. Not that he'd ever doubted what his feelings for Sara were. He'd known for a while. But now, with her lips pressed against his, it felt so much more real. He wanted so badly to take his hand off the fail-safe and wrap his arms around her, pulling her into him and holding her close for as long as he could.

If he just let go, he could run out of here and stay with her. He could fight by her side while the Legends went after Savage. He could go back home to 2016 with her. He could share his future with her the way he'd imagined. Maybe Raymond was wrong. Maybe the fail-safe would hold on its own, somehow. But deep down, he knew he couldn't let go. If he didn't hold onto the fail-safe, none of this would matter. The Legends would be puppets for the Time Masters and Savage would win. He had to hold on. For Mick. For the team. For Sara.

She finally pulled away from the kiss. He kept his eyes closed just a second longer, lingering in the magic of that bittersweet moment. If that was the only taste of a future with her that he was going to get, he was going to enjoy it for as long as possible. When he finally opened them, the look of admiration on her face was enough to make all of this feel worth it. He'd never wanted to be hero. He'd always denied it whenever anyone suggested he could be one. But looking into her eyes now, he knew that a hero was exactly what she thought he was. And he wanted nothing more than to prove her right.

The whole scene lasted for barely any time at all. Or, lack of time, since they were in the Vanishing Point. Sara ran behind him, scooped up Mick, and hurried away toward the Waverider. Leonard was relieved. She was going to make it. So was Mick. That meant everything was going to be okay.

Leonard soon found himself surrounded by guards, led by Time Master Druce. He gripped the fail-safe a little bit harder, just for good measure.

"Shut it down!" Time Master Druce ordered.

Leonard gritted his teeth. He could feel the heat of the upcoming explosion intensifying around his arm. He only had a few seconds left and he wasn't about to go without getting the last word. He remembered something he'd said during his last encounter with Barry Allen that felt appropriate to the situation. _I finally decide to play the hero, and of course it all comes back to Barry,_ he mused. He had to appreciate the irony, even if he was slightly reluctant to.

"Shut it down!" Druce shouted again, more emphatically.

"There are no strings on me!"

The blue flames of the bomb expanded outward, filling the whole room. Leonard shut his eyes and tried not to scream. It felt like every cell in his body was being pulled apart and set on fire at once. Pain was everywhere. He just wanted it to be over. Why couldn't it just be over?

_So, this is what dying feels like_, he thought as the heat of the temporal energy surged through his body. _Not quite the way Sara described it, but I guess it's close enough._

_Sara._ His thoughts lingered on her. _Sara._ Somehow, it hurt just a little bit less when he thought about her. When he concentrated, he could still feel her hand on his arm, her lips against his. Maybe he was dying alone, but at least she was still with him in his mind. He replayed his last memory of her over and over again, shutting out his overloaded senses until all he could feel was her. _Sara._

Suddenly, everything stopped. Or, at least, it felt like it did. He tried to open his eyes, but honestly couldn't tell if they were open or closed. There was just…nothing. Nothing except a strange force that seemed to be pulling him in every direction at once. It wasn't moving him. If anything, it was keeping him from moving. _This is strange_, he thought. _Not exactly the way I pictured being dead._

He couldn't tell whether he'd been there for an eternity or a few minutes. It felt like a massive amount of energy of some kind was rushing through him and around him, but at the same time, he was completely still. He tried to move, but it felt like something was weighing him down and holding him in place. It seemed like his thoughts were being weighed down, too. They were slowing down, almost to a standstill. _No!_ he thought, forcing himself back to alertness. _They can kill me if they want, but they're not taking my mind. Think, Leonard, think!_

He tried to think of something, anything, to keep his brain working. His thoughts settled on his sister. _Lisa. I should have told her goodbye. Somebody'd better tell her what happened to me. She has to take care of herself now. She's a tough kid. She'll be okay…hopefully…_

He felt his thoughts slowing down again and forced himself to think of something else. _Nothing like dying to remind you of all the ways you screwed up_, he thought. _I should've been a better friend to Mick. I should've done a better job of protecting Lisa. I should've told Sara how I felt sooner, and never should've pointed that gun at her like an idiot. At least then we might've had a little more time…_

Time. Something about that word stuck in his mind. He didn't know why, but the idea of it seemed to surround him. Time. Was that the thing holding him here? He didn't think Rip had ever said anything about time being able to do that. Then again, he had never been Rip's best listener.

Leonard felt a strange tingling sensation. It was the first thing he'd really felt, physically at least, since ending up wherever he was. It was like hundreds of tiny little sparks hitting him from all directions. Then, he saw something. A little yellow streak. It was gone in an instant. Then it was back. It disappeared again, then returned alongside a second one. He recognized it this time. Lightning. A speedster's lightning.

_What the…Barry? How?_

Little by little, the lightning streaks closed in on him, circling around him tightly. The tingling sensation grew stronger, almost like electric shocks. They didn't hurt the way the Oculus explosion had, but every time they hit, he felt a rush of energy course through him. Slowly, he started to feel a little bit less stuck in place. Then, all at once, he was in motion, catapulted through the endless nothing surrounding him. It felt as if he was being pulled downstream in a raging river, except the river consisted of a combination of dark emptiness and bright bolts of lightning.

The yellow lightning bolts grew into thicker streaks of white light. As they flashed, Leonard saw glimpses of his memories. They only lasted for a brief moment before disappearing, but he recognized them. All of them had something to do with Mick or Sara. There was the day Mick saved his life in juvie. The time Sara asked him to dance, then dazzled him with her fighting ability. The first job he and Mick pulled together when he had to bolt with only a small ring as his prize. The night he talked Sara out of killing Professor Stein. The time when he and Sara nearly froze to death together. The day he couldn't bring himself to kill Mick, marooning him instead. The time when Chronos attacked and Sara got left behind with Raymond and Kendra. The night when Chronos threatened Lisa. The day when Savage had a knife to Sara's throat and Leonard felt so helpless. The time when he finally told her the truth about how he felt about her, wondering what the future might hold for me…and you…and me and you.

_Me and you_. Something about that memory clicked in his brain. He felt another presence with him, like someone else was sharing that memory with him, repeating those three words. _Me and you. Me and you._

He started to see shapes of people. Four people. The shapes flickered in and out and he couldn't make out any details, only basic outlines. Two of them, he definitely couldn't recognize. The others looked so familiar, but he just wasn't sure…

_Mick!_ he realized._ Sara!_

He tried to call out to them, but something was pulling him back, stopping him. He reached out and tried to grab onto something, anything, but couldn't. _No_, he thought fearfully, feeling himself slipping out of their reach. He felt the darkness pulling him down once more, away from his friends. _No, no, no, no, no!_

Then, something strange happened. He heard another voice. It was her. Sara. He still couldn't really see her, but he could hear her as clearly as if she was standing beside him. "Don't let go. Hold on. Just hold on. You're the strongest and bravest of us all, Leonard. You can do this. Come back to me."

He felt a surge of strength within himself. Sara believed in him. He had to come back to her. He reached out one more time, throwing himself out of the darkness and into a blinding white light. For an instant, he could see her, all of her, right in front of him. He also saw Mick, standing across from her. The two other people were standing between them too, but he still had no clue who the strange man and woman were. There was a blast of wind, followed by another double flash of lightning. He felt like he was being thrown through the air. Something hit his head. Then everything went dark.

* * *

**Central City, 2019**

"What do you mean, 'coming back to bite us'?" Joe asked Constantine as the ground shook beneath him again. "We already got Snart out. It worked."

"Delayed reaction, love," Constantine explained, pushing himself to his feet. "That there was a time quake." He ran out of the parlor and took a closer look at the windows. "Oh, we're in for it now."

Ray thought quickly. "If Snart wasn't as completely detached from the timeline's energy as we'd planned," he suggested, "pulling him out so suddenly may have destabilized its structure."

"And I'm going to assume that's bad," Iris concluded.

"Aye, love," John confirmed, turning away from the window. "Looks like we're in the center of a temporal vortex."

Barry let go of Iris and walked toward John. "What does that mean?" he asked. "Are we in danger?"

Zari answered before John could get a chance. "It means that we just poked a hole in time," she said. "Or, more accurately, stretched it enough to create one. That hole is currently centered above us and is surrounding the ship and S.T.A.R. Labs with a time storm, and with it, time quakes."

"Are we just saying random words with 'time' in front of them?" Joe asked Cisco quietly.

"Yeah," Cisco nodded. "Could be a little more creative."

Iris left the parlor and walked to her husband's side. "Then what do we do?" she asked. "Can we close it?"

"Want me to throw lightning at it?" Wally offered. "Maybe that'll shock it closed."

"As much as I'd love to see a speedster throw lightning into a vortex of doom," Charlie replied, "I don't think that'll do the trick."

"Charlie's right," Nora agreed. "We need something else. Something that can actually patch a hole in time."

A lightbulb went off in Zari's brain. "If I can get to the time drive," she said, "I can reconfigure it so we can blast its temporal energy at the vortex. That should be a strong enough force to close it."

"Okay, great!" Nate said. "Let's do that."

The ship shook again, knocking Team Flash and the Legends off their feet.

"Not a bad plan," Constantine said as he slid into the wall, "but there's one area I think you're forgetting. Gideon!" he called out. "Got any eyes on the cargo door?"

The screens in the bridge projected an image of the cargo bay. It seemed empty, but they could hear angry, shouting voices. Then, there was a bright green blast and the lock burst open, revealing a crowd of strange men carrying a variety of futuristic weapons.

"Just as I suspected," John said, still leaning against the wall. "We've got company!"

"Are those…time pirates?" Nate asked. "I thought Rip took care of the last of them when he started the Time Bureau."

"We really are just adding 'time' in front of everything now," Joe remarked.

"He must have missed a crew," Ray said, pushing himself to his feet. He rushed to Nora's side to help her up.

"No, mate," John corrected him. "Your old captain did his job. When you rip a hole in time, anything from time can fall through it. These time pirates have been blown in from whatever period they were last in. My guess is just before old Rip locked them away."

"I'm sorry," Cisco interjected, "are you telling me that there are pirates, from the future I'm assuming, who attack and steal time ships? Like 'Pirates of the Caribbean', but they also time travel?"

"Yep," said Zari.

"Cool! I mean…awful," he quickly corrected himself, noticing the eyes of the Legends on him.

They heard blasters firing from the cargo bay. They sounded like they were coming closer, heading toward the bridge.

"Battle stations, Legends!" Ray shouted, pulling his suit out of his pocket.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Since when do we have battle stations?"

Zari rolled her eyes. "You know what he means, Charlie." She ran over to Cisco and grabbed his arm. "We need to get to the time drive," she told him. "You're a tech person, right? The two of us can rewire it while the others fight so we can shut this thing down." Cisco nodded, agreeing to her plan. She turned to the rest of the crew. "Guys, whatever you do, don't let the pirates near the engine room!"

She and Cisco ran out of the room while the others prepared for battle. Barry put a hand to the comm link on his suit, testing it, then turned to Iris. "Go to the med bay," he said. "The storm is interfering with the comms. You have to tell them what's going on and make sure they're not in danger."

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'll be fine. It's just pirates. Not even metas. Go!"

Iris took off running. Eight time pirates reached the bridge shortly after and found eight heroes waiting for them.

"Hey, guys," Wally said. "Just so you know, this time ship has two speedsters and a crew that just brought a dude back to life today, so attacking us would really be pushing your luck."

The leader of the pirates pointed his weapon at him with a wry look. "Good thing I don't believe in luck. Get them!"

He fired, but Wally sped out of the way. The other pirates rushed into the fight, launching the bridge into chaos.

One man ran at Nate. His steel fists punched him in the stomach. He reeled away and fired at Nora. Nora caught his blast with her magic and redirected it at the leader, who dodged it just in time.

Another pirate chased after Charlie. She sprinted into the parlor, grabbed an old "souvenir" sword from one of the top shelves, and swiped at him. "Now this is how you fight a pirate!" she exclaimed, forcing him back with two more swipes.

Ray shrank down and flew through the air, trying to find a weak spot in the pirates' futuristic armor and weaponry. One of them spotted him and fired his blaster at him. Ray flew out of the way, narrowly dodging it. He fired again and Ray did the same, even more narrowly. "Hey, maybe we can talk this out…" he suggested. The pirate fired one more time. Ray flew around until he was behind him, expanded to his regular side, and punched him with his armored fist, knocking him to the ground. "Or not."

Constantine began reciting a barrier spell around the pirate closest to him, forcing him to stop in his tracks. While he was still focused on it, another pirate hit him from behind, knocking him to the floor and setting the trapped pirate free. One of them aimed his blaster at John's head while the other pinned him down. Barry sped in and grabbed the blaster out of the pirate's hands, then sped him into the Waverider's brig. He returned as Wally pulled the other pirate off of John and shoved him into the nearest wall, then ran back to help the magician back to his feet.

"That all you got?" Wally asked mockingly.

The pirate against the wall smirked. "You wish, kid." He shot his blaster at the ground by Wally's feet, forcing him to jump out of the way, then took the opportunity to run.

"Wait a minute…" Joe said, his detective instincts picking up on what he heard. He looked frantically toward Barry. "S.T.A.R. Labs!" he said. "They've got more down there storming it while it's empty. That's why there's only a few up here."

Barry turned to Wally. "I'm taking Joe down to protect S.T.A.R. Labs. Can you handle things here?"

Wally gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, I got it. Whoa! Not today!" He speedily dodged a green blast, then darted across the room to attack its source.

"I'm coming too," Nora announced, stepping toward Barry. "If it's anywhere close to this many, you two will need some magic backup."

"Sounds like a plan. Charlie!" Barry exclaimed, grabbing the shapeshifter's attention. He tossed her the blaster he'd taken from the pirate. "Try this one out!" He then grabbed Nora with one arm and Joe with the other and said, "You two, hold on." He zoomed them both out of the ship and into S.T.A.R. Labs below.

Charlie grinned at her new weapon and fired it at the pirate nearest to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two of the pirates sneaking out of the bridge and into the corridor leading toward the engine room. She only stood still for a moment, but it was enough for the pirate she'd shot at to pin her against the nearest wall. She kicked him away and found herself in close hand-to-hand combat, ducking to avoid two punches. The fight was cut short by Wally, who ran in circles around the pirate, disarming him, then dragged him through the ship and into the brig in a matter of seconds. He zoomed back to the bridge and Charlie pulled him aside.

"The engine room," she said. "Two went down that way."

"Zari and Cisco," Wally gasped.

"Yeah." She cocked her blaster so that it was ready to fire. "We can stop them. Come on!"

The two of them hurried out of the bridge, leaving John, Nate, and Ray to fend off the four remaining invaders.

* * *

"What was that?" Caitlin asked, grabbing onto a shelf of medical supplies as the ground under her feet shook.

Sara jumped up. "A time quake," she said. "Something must have gone wrong with the timeline." She looked down at Leonard, still peacefully sedated, then tried to use her comms. "Something's interfering with the signal. We have to get the others. They might know what happened."

Mona ran to the door. "Stay here, Captain Lance! I'll check."

Before she could leave, Iris hopped into the room and shut the door behind her. "Time pirates," she said, panting to catch her breath. "There was a time quake and a time storm and now we've got time pirates. I don't know exactly what that means, but they do not seem like nice guys."

Caitlin stared at her confusedly. "Time pirates? Like…pirates who time travel?" Iris nodded. "Huh. Well, there's a first."

"Not even close," Sara said, shaking her head.

Mick stood up and put his hand on his weapon, ready to fight. "I thought you said the first Englishman took care of them," he said.

"That's what he said," Sara replied. "But sometimes, time has a mind of its own."

Iris explained, "Zari said something about stretching time too far, creating a tear or a hole of some kind. Seems like that was the ten percent Gideon couldn't predict."

Sara groaned. "Ugh, Gideon, seriously?"

"I apologize, Captain," Gideon's disembodied voice said, "but I did warn you."

The four of them fell silent as they heard loud voices shouting on the other side of the door. The voices went away, but they could still hear blast sounds coming from somewhere nearby.

"They're trying to take the ship," Mona realized. "We have to help!"

Mick drew his heat gun. "They're not coming near my partner. Not if they want to see tomorrow."

Caitlin looked down at Snart worriedly. "We can't move him now. Gideon's made a lot of progress, but it would still be risky."

"Then they're not getting in here," Mick said. He hurried to the door and placed his back against it in a guarding position, ready to fire at the first person who attempted to open it.

Iris turned to Sara. "Zari said a blast of energy from the ship's time drive might shut the vortex. She and Cisco are working on it now."

Sara ran to Mick's side and placed her ear against the door, listening carefully. She backed away and told the others, "The pirates are heading down the hall to the right. That's where the engine room is."

"So," Caitlin said, "if Zari and Cisco are there…"

"They'll need backup if they want to rewire the drive in time," Sara finished for her. "Let's go." She started to move toward the door.

Mona stepped in her way. "No," she said. "You can't go, Captain."

Sara crossed her arms. "Excuse me, Mona?"

"You and Mr. Rory need to stay here. For Mr. Snart."

Sara rolled her eyes. "This isn't one of your books, Mona! This ship, _my_ ship, is under attack. I'm not letting my crew risk their lives while I'm hiding in the med bay."

Caitlin heard a sly, echoing voice inside her head. "Ugh, screw this arguing," Killer Frost's voice said. "It's my turn to have some action."

The rest of the heroes in the room fell silent as they saw Caitlin Snow's hair change from auburn to white, and her eyes to icy blue. "You guys do whatever," Killer Frost said as she took off Caitlin Snow's lab coat and tossed it carelessly to the ground. "I'm going out there. I want to freeze some pirates." She glanced to the side and noticed Mona staring at her. "Oh, hey," she said. "You're new."

"Um…hi?" Mona squeaked. A realization dawned on her as she connected the dots from a conversation the day before. _This must be what Wally meant when he said I was like Caitlin,_ she thought. _She's got a Wolfie too._

Killer Frost walked to the door, placing her ear against it to listen. "I can hear them. They're getting close." She looked back at Mona. "You got powers or something?"

"Sort of…"

"Okay, good. You're covered, then." Killer Frost walked past her and dug into Caitlin's supplies. "Where did she put it?" she muttered. She paused, hearing Caitlin's voice answer her question, and opened the nearest drawer. She pulled out Snart's cold gun. "I missed this one," she said. "Not enough chilly villains these days."

Mick turned to face her, his back still against the door. "Where did you get that?"

"Cool down, Heatwave," she answered. "Caitlin thought there was a risk of Snart losing his memory or something equally as cheesy and brought it in here in case he needed a reminder. Lucky she did, right?" She handed it to Iris. "Now you're the icy one in the room. Have fun."

Iris took the gun hesitantly. Killer Frost walked past her, preparing to leave. "Wait! Killer Frost!" Iris called to her. "You can't just go out there alone! What about the pirates?"

"That's why I'm going out. Duh. You've got an assassin, a guy with a heat gun, and whatever she is," she waved her pale hand at Mona, "so that should be enough to protect Sleeping Beauty over here."

The ship shook with another time quake. Killer Frost stumbled, crashing into the closed door beside Mick. Sara grabbed onto the nearest shelf to steady herself. Iris and Mona, both in the middle of the room with little to grab onto, slid to the floor. Iris managed to stop herself from sliding too far. Mona crashed into the cabinet on the other side of the room, causing several medical instruments that had been used by Caitlin to fall on her.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, brushing them away. When the ground stopped shaking, she noticed a cut on her hand where the sharpest of the instruments had fallen. It wasn't bleeding too much, but it was pretty large. "Uh-oh," she breathed, starting to panic.

Sara ran to her side and knelt down to her level. "It's okay, Mona," she said, trying to keep her calm. "We've got bandages right here. Just breathe. You don't have to wolf out."

Iris hurried over and grabbed the relevant supplies from a nearby shelf. "Wolf out?" she asked as she worked on bandaging Mona's hand. "What's that?"

"Mona's Killer Frost," Sara explained, "but more werewolf-y."

"Oh, you have a me," Killer Frost commented, still bracing herself against the door. "That's cute." She felt something hitting the door on the other side and looked at Mick, who shared her concerned expression. "But that's not."

A green light flashed as one of the pirates blasted the door open, throwing Killer Frost and Mick aside. "Hand over your captain," he barked, "and I'll let the rest of you live!"

"Not a chance," Iris said. She stood up and tried to fire the cold gun at him, but narrowly missed. "How do you even aim this thing?" she asked, trying a second time and missing again.

The pirate moved closer, preparing to shoot Iris. Sara jumped to her feet and grabbed the gun out of Iris's hands, immediately positioning it just as Snart always did. "Like this!"

She fired a perfect shot, hitting him straight in the chest. The blast was intense enough to knock him out, yet light enough not to kill him. Sara kept the gun in her hand as she ran over to him, making sure he was no longer a threat.

Mick picked himself up from the floor, staring at her. "When did you learn how to do that?" he asked.

"It's a very intuitive weapon," she replied, not looking up at him. She removed the blaster from the unconscious pirate's hands and handed it to Iris. "Try this one instead. It might be easier to aim."

"No," Mick pressed further, "Leo's gun is the easy one. Snart's gun has a lot more moving pieces to mess with." He crouched down beside her. "When did he teach you that?"

Sara couldn't help smiling a little as she explained, "He told me if I won three games in row, he'd show me how to use it. How it fires, how to take it apart, the different power levels, the upgrades he made, everything."

"And you won three games?"

Sara finally looked up at him with a playful smirk. "No. I won five." She hopped up to her feet and noted the open door, its edges charred from the pirate's blast. "Well, I guess no one's hiding in the med bay now," she observed.

Killer Frost stood up and ran her cold fingers over the damage. "I'll say," she agreed. She looked down disgustedly at the pirate lying on the ground. "Got anywhere we can stash this guy before he wakes up and starts another fight?"

"We have a brig," Sara answered. "It's down the hall and to the left. Throw him in there and he won't get out."

Before Killer Frost had a chance to try moving the pirate, Nate stuck his steel head in through the destroyed doorway. "Oh, you guys are safe!" he exclaimed, visibly relieved. "One got away and we thought he was heading over here." He looked down. "Oh…I guess he did head over here."

"He's alive," Sara quickly assured him, still holding the cold gun. "Just knocked out. Someone can get him to the brig before he warms up enough to be a problem again. How's the situation out there?"

"We're handling it," Nate replied. "John's got one guy hypnotized and he's sending him to the brig as we speak. Ray and I took down the leader a minute ago. The other two took off running in opposite directions. Ray went after one and I went after the other…who is now here." He leaned over to peer down the hallway, then turned back to Sara. "I think there are two others that took off this direction. Charlie and Wally went after them, but I don't know how far they got."

"What about Barry?" Iris asked. "You didn't mention him. Is he okay?"

"Barry, Nora, and Joe went down to S.T.A.R. Labs," Nate explained. "Seems like the rest of the pirates decided to hit it while the rest of us were up here."

"Crap," Iris said, "They've got to be outnumbered. I'm going down there."

"Me too," Killer Frost said. "Can't let these losers mess with Caitlin's stuff."

"We can handle the med bay," Sara said. "You guys go help Barry." Iris ran out, clutching the blaster in her hands. Killer Frost followed her. Sara turned to the steel man in the doorway. "Nate, the other two pirates you saw were heading for the engine room. Zari and Cisco are still in there. Make sure they don't find them."

"Aye aye, Captain," he said, making a quick salute with his metal hand before taking off in the engine room's direction.

Sara turned to Mona. "Someone needs to get this guy to the brig. If you wolf out, you'll be strong enough to carry him."

Mona shook her head. "But what about Mr. Snart? We can't leave him alone."

"We won't," Mick grunted. He stepped back, turning so his back faced his still unconscious partner. He lifted his heat gun and pointed it at the doorway. "No one's getting near Snart while I'm here. Listen to your captain, kid."

"Rory's right," Sara agreed. "We've got it covered here. Go!"

Mona hesitated for a second, then took a deep breath, and transformed into Wolfie. She growled as she picked up the unconscious pirate, dragging him out of the med bay and toward the brig.

Sara noticed a funny look on Mick's face. "What?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're enjoying being attacked."

"I'm not," he said, "it's just…look at us." He pointed at Sara, then Snart, then himself, though his eyes stayed fixed on the open doorway. "Killer, klepto, and pyro. Wasn't expecting that to happen again."

Sara glanced back at Leonard, then returned her focus to the door, holding the cold gun ready. "Yeah," she said teasingly, "except normally, you'd be the unconscious one. And he'd be the one who knocked you out."

Mick narrowed his eyes. "Most of the hits he got, I let him have."

"Sure," said Sara.

The two of them heard yelling and more blasts down the hall. They both took one step closer to the door, prepared to fight the next pirate to come close.

* * *

Zari unscrewed the metal sheet protecting the time drive, then reached in and searched for the right wires. She noticed Cisco's eyes focusing on the golden glowing sphere that contained all of the ship's power. "Be careful," she warned. "If you touch that, you'll either get sent back to a random time period, start rapidly aging, or straight up die."

Cisco quickly looked away from the enticing object. "Yikes. Okay. Hands off."

"The control panel for the ship's blasters are to your left," Zari explained. "Get in there and…"

"Get ready to divert the time drive's power to the blasters," Cisco finished her sentence. "You got it." He moved over to his left and took out the panel, analyzing its components. "I can't believe I'm actually rewiring a time machine," he marveled. "This is so freaking awesome!"

The two of them worked carefully for several minutes, unscrewing pieces, connecting wires, and passing each other tools. Suddenly, they heard a blast from behind them. They both spun around and saw that two pirates had blown open a hole in the engine room door, which they were now using to force it open.

"Uh-oh," Cisco breathed as they finally shoved it open enough to get through. "That's not good."

Zari looked at the door worriedly, then passed the wire in her hand to Cisco. "I've still got my powers," she said. "I'll hold them off. You finish the rest."

Before he could argue, she jumped to her feet and ran a few paces so that she was just out of Cisco's reach. The pirates stormed in. Zari crossed her arm over her chest and made a fist. A gust of wind blew the pirates back, then swirled around in a circular formation, creating a wall of air between Zari and the invaders. They tried to run closer, but were blown back once they got within a few feet of her.

"How's it coming, Cisco?" Zari called back to her friend.

"Almost there!" Cisco shouted back. "Just buy me a little more time."

"We can help with that!" Wally exclaimed as he and Charlie arrived at the scene, standing in the doorway behind them.

Charlie pointed her blaster at the nearest of the two pirates. "You want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Instead of answering, he fired his weapon at her. She stepped behind the charred remains of the door to dodge it, then jumped out and fired at him. Wally prepared to run at the second pirate, but before he could, the ground beneath them shook with another time quake.

The sudden motion caused Zari to lose her balance. Her wind shield vanished as she stumbled to the nearest wall to brace herself against. That brief moment was enough for one pirate to fire his blaster at her, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her to the ground. The two pirates charged past her toward the far end of the room, where Cisco was frantically working.

Wally zoomed between the pirates and Cisco. They shot at him, but he ran around them faster than they could aim, leaving a trail of lightning encircling them. Charlie ran to Zari's side.

"Z!" she exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"Ugh, no," Zari groaned, rubbing her shoulder. "I just got shot. Why would I be all right?" She looked behind her at Cisco, Wally, and the pirates. "Go help Cisco," she told her. "He needs it."

Charlie nodded and ran to Cisco. "Truth be told," she said as she arrived beside him, "I don't know much about all this engineering business, but if you tell me what to put where…"

"Take this," Cisco said, handing her a red wire, "and clip it to that," he pointed to a small metal box further inside the engine.

"That I can do," she said, leaning in and stretching her arm through many tangled cables to reach it.

Wally finally broke his circle around the pirates and landed a solid punch on each of them. The momentum from all his running was enough to knock them to the ground on impact. He put his foot on one man's chest, stopping him from getting up. The other tried to lunge at him but was stopped by a sudden gust of wind from Zari. She was still sitting on the ground across the room, but the totem on her wrist was activated, pinning him against the wall.

Nate arrived in the engine room then, surveying the situation. "Zari!" he called out.

Zari deactivated her totem. It took only a moment for Nate to pounce on the pirate she had been holding in place, pinning him to the ground with his steel arms. He nodded to Wally. "Can you get these guys to the brig?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got you, man." Wally grabbed the pirate he was standing over and zoomed out of the room. He returned a few seconds later and did the same with the one Nate was holding down, then came back to join Charlie, Cisco, Nate, and Zari again.

Nate ran to Zari. "What happened?" he asked. "Did they hurt you?"

"Shot in the shoulder," she muttered, "but I'll live."

"And…we're done!" Cisco announced, raising his fist victoriously. "Everything's set. Let's shut this thing down!"

Zari looked up. "Gideon!" she called out. "Aim the exterior weapons system straight up into the center of the vortex!"

The Waverider's external blasters opened and swiveled upward toward the source of the dark time storm surrounding it.

"Weapons ready, Miss Tomaz," Gideon said.

"Fire!" Zari ordered.

The Waverider shot a bright beam of golden temporal energy up into the air, hitting the center of the vortex above it. The blast glowed as it absorbed the energy and the storm clouds around them stopped swirling and stilled. The impact of the vortex shutting sent a ripple of force through the air until it hit the Waverider, rocking it harder than any of the previous time quakes had. It lasted several minutes while the Legends in the engine room struggled to brace themselves against something that wasn't moving.

* * *

Wolfie threw her prisoner in the brig, snarled, and shrank back down into Mona Wu's smaller form. She put her hands on her knees and leaned down, panting. "Whew," she said. "Thanks, Wolfie." She glanced to the side and noticed John Constantine leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. "Hey, Mr. Constantine," she said. "Do you need anything?"

He straightened up and walked toward her. "No, Mona. I just dropped my prisoner off. He's that one." He gestured toward a pirate who was sound asleep on the ground in the back of the brig. "Nothing like some good, old fashioned hypnotism," John said proudly.

"When we get out of here," the pirate leader threatened, stomping over until he was nearly pressing his face against the glass, "you'll get what's coming to you, time travelers!"

"Yeah, yeah, heard you the first time, sweetheart," John dismissed.

Mona looked at the time pirate quizzically. "Aren't you a time traveler too?" she asked. "I mean, technically, you do travel through time. You just do it on stolen ships. So then, why are you using 'time traveler' as an insult? It makes no sense."

The pirate simply glared menacingly at her through the glass.

"Geez, okay," she said, taking a step back. "Just asking."

"Ignore them, love," John said, stepping forward until he was right in front of the brig's sealed door. "I'll have them all under a spell in no time. They'll be harmless as a fly." He breathed in, then, as he exhaled, lifted his hands and recited a spell.

One of the pirates lunged toward him, shouting futuristic curses, but was stopped by the glass between them, which he then banged against with his fist. Mona hurried to John's side. "Be careful!" she warned.

"Hush, Mona," he said, closing his eyes. "I need to concentrate." He took a step closer toward the door and repeated his incantation again.

As he spoke, the Waverider fired its golden shot into the vortex. The resulting wave of force hit the ship and rocked it back and forth. Mona and John crashed into each other, then against the outer wall of the brig. John grabbed onto the edge of the door to steady himself, thinking the motion would be over. When it continued violently, he felt his hand slip as he slid down to the floor.

His hand slid right over the key pad, which recognized his identity, let out a beeping sound, turned green, and unlocked the brig's door. The ground continued to shake for several minutes. The pirates pushed their way through the exit. John stretched his arm out, trying to block them from getting to Mona. He started reciting another containment spell, but before he could get the words out, the pirate crew grabbed him and threw him into the brig, along with Mona. Once the shaking slowed down, the pirates stormed out of the room, leaving the two Legends locked inside. Other than the one pirate who was still hypnotized asleep, they were alone.

"Oh," Mona began.

"Bollocks," John finished.

* * *

In the med bay, Sara and Mick stood side by side, watching the open doorway for any sign of movement. They heard a massive blasting sound coming from above.

"The ship's guns," Sara realized. "Zari and Cisco must've figured out how to shut down the vortex."

"Good," Mick said. He relaxed slightly but kept his heat gun pointed at the med bay's entrance. "Think the others finished off the rest of the pirates?"

Sara paused, listening. "I don't hear anything. Maybe they're all…ah!"

The ship shook violently as the force from the vortex's destruction landed on it. Caitlin's supplies went flying and scattered all over the ground. The ship rocked back and forth for several minutes. Sara and Mick tried to grab onto something, but nothing in the room would stay still. Finally, they crashed to the floor.

If they hadn't been preoccupied with struggling to stay on their feet, they may have noticed a particularly strong wave of motion shaking the operating chair behind them, knocking the sedative cord off Leonard Snart's wrist.

Now that they were on the floor, something else caught their attention. The shaking slowed down gradually, but they could hear boots pounding in the hallway, coming closer. Mick and Sara looked up to see seven time pirates grinning down at them, weapons drawn. The leader stepped toward Sara. "I hear you're the captain," he said. "I'll make it easy on you. Surrender now and your crew walks."

"Not likely," Sara retorted. She jumped to her feet and landed a kick to his stomach, then several punches. He swung a punch at her, missed, and then tried to grab her. She leaped out of the way, then hit him in the head with the back of the cold gun.

The rest of the pirates joined in on the action. Mick fired his heat gun in front of him, swinging it side to side. The pirates jumped back to avoid its flames. One of them ducked down, shooting his blaster at Mick's feet. Mick stopped shooting to stumble backward as the blast hit his boots. Three pirates joined their captain to fight Sara. The remaining three rushed at Mick. Two tried to grab his arms with the other pulled the heat gun away from him. He punched his way out and tried to take the gun back. The resulting struggle instead sent it flying through the air, landing by the charred doorway. Mick dove for it and grabbed it. He turned around, planning to fire it at the remaining pirates. But he soon realized how close they were standing to his partner, and instead stepped farther back into the hallway. He had a different idea.

"Hey, losers!" he taunted, capturing their attention. "You want to take this ship? Fat chance!"

Sara swung her legs around and kicked the four men away from her just long enough to make eye contact with Mick. "What are you doing, Rory?" she asked.

"Getting rid of these pests," he answered, lifting his weapon up threateningly, "Trust me." He looked back at Leonard, then added, "Don't let them hurt my partner. Promise me!"

"Promise," she nodded. Protecting Leonard was important to her too, of course, but she knew how much trust Mick was placing in her with that promise. She ducked under a punch and countered with one of her own, then jumped up onto one of the pirates' shoulders and swung her legs around, tackling him to the ground.

Mick took off running.

"He's going for the bridge!" the leader called out. "He's trying to time jump! You," he pointed to the time pirates who had been going after Mick minutes earlier, "stop him!" They obediently hurried out in Mick's direction.

Leonard's eyelids fluttered. His surroundings seemed oddly fuzzy. He felt strange, like he was half in a dream, half awake. His senses were coming back to him, but very gradually. He blinked a few times and the room came more into focus. It seemed so familiar. His brain struggled to piece together the situation. He was lying back in a chair, apparently. The lights above him were uncomfortably bright. _I could've sworn I've seen this before,_ he thought, continuing to lie still.

Sara fired the cold gun at the floor beneath the pirates' feet, sending them sliding backward toward the corridor. She landed a flying kick on the leader, pushing him farther away until he was fully out of the med bay. The other three reached out to grab her and nearly succeeded, but a well-timed elbow and knee motion from Sara sent them stumbling out of the room. She dove and slid down the icy floor until she was right in front of the leader. She flipped to her feet, then punched him in the jaw, immediately following with a kick to his legs. He retaliated by firing his blaster at her several times. She jumped out of the way of every blast.

Leonard squinted at the shelves of medical supplies around him, still not daring to move. He slowly began to recognize it. It was an infirmary of some kind. A very technologically advanced one, at that. Like something he would've seen in a science fiction movie…

_The med bay,_ he realized. _This is the Waverider._ He felt relieved to know where he was, but his mind was suddenly full of questions. _How am I on the Waverider? It flew away. Is this real? Am I dreaming? This has to be a dream._ He forced himself to sit up and looked down at his body. His clothes were the same as when he'd set off the Oculus explosion, though they were now in much worse shape. He ran his hand down his opposite arm, then down the side of the chair. He felt real. It felt real. _But…how?_ he wondered.

Sara managed to force the four pirates fully out of the med bay. She stood just outside the remains of the door, staring them down. One made a move toward her. She fired the cold gun at him, throwing him back with an icy blast.

Leonard heard a familiar sound and looked around. The cold gun. That's what it was. It had to be somewhere nearby. As his eyes scanned the room, he noticed that it was laid out differently than he remembered. Had that chair always been there? He could've sworn the shelves above it weren't. But it was still definitely the Waverider. _This doesn't make any sense,_ he thought.

Finally, he turned his head toward the door, or what was left of it, and all the questions in his head went silent. There, in the opening left from he had to assume had been an attack of some kind, was a blonde woman holding his cold gun in her hands, fighting like he'd only ever seen her fight. It was her. Sara.

"Sara," he whispered. Chills went down his spine. He thought he'd never see her again. But there she was, right in front of him, shooting his signature weapon exactly how he'd taught her to. Part of him wanted to run to her, hold her, kiss her, tell her how happy he was to see her. But the other part of him recognized what was happening. There was a fight going on, and Sara was in the middle of it. He didn't know who she was fighting, how dangerous they were, or where the other Legends were. He slid off the chair and walked toward the doorway cautiously, taking care to keep himself out of view until he knew what was going on.

Sara fired one more shot at the pirates, preventing them from coming any closer. Trying to stay out of the cold gun's reach, all four of them began shooting at her simultaneously from a distance. Rather than try to dodge so many blasts at once, she ducked behind the remains of the door…bumping right into Leonard.

"Ah!" she let out a short cry of surprise. She glanced back at the empty chair, then stared wide-eyed at Leonard. "Oh…my…"

"Sara," he said. He wanted to say so much more than just her name. But he found that wanting to do something and actually bringing himself to do it while he was face to face with Sara Lance were very different things. He could barely do anything but stare, practically speechless.

Sara smiled, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Leonard," she said. She hesitated, not knowing what to do, but being certain that she had to do something to show how she felt in that moment. She waited another moment, then threw her arms around him, embracing him as she let the cold gun fall to the floor. "I missed you," she whispered, burying her face in his chest.

Leonard's heartbeat quickened as he felt her body against his. He froze at first, almost afraid. Afraid of doing something wrong and ruining the moment. Afraid of waking up and realizing it was all a dream after all. Afraid that as soon as he touched her, she'd disappear, and he'd lose her again. Finally, he gave in, wrapping his arms around her and holding her as tightly as she was holding him. He leaned his head down to be a little closer to her height and whispered back, "I missed you, too."

The sound of weapons firing and green blasts of light flashing behind the doorway brought them back to the moment. Sara pulled away from Leonard, picked up the cold gun, and backed herself up against the door, looking over her shoulder into the corridor. Leonard followed her lead, placing his back against the wall next to her.

"I'm sorry you had to wake up now," Sara said, still looking over her shoulder, prepared to pounce if she saw a pirate. "It's not exactly the best time."

Leonard replied with a sarcastic drawl, "Well, I hate to be an inconvenience."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I know." Leonard took another look around the med bay, then added, "Place looks different. Did you do some remodeling?"

Sara turned her head to look back at him, her finger still on the trigger of the cold fun. "A bit. Some things just moved around with time."

Leonard frowned. Time. She hadn't brought up the Oculus yet, so he could assume that had happened a significant while ago. He said nothing for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "How long?"

"Three years," she answered.

He raised his eyebrows. "Three years?"

"Yep."

He leaned his head back against the wall, taking it in. "Three whole years. Wow."

"Yeah. We all thought you were dead."

"I thought so too for a minute there." He turned his head to look at her. "We've really got to stop doing this whole getting-lost-for-multiple-years-at-a-time thing." He smirked, then added, "Nice to know you still missed me, though."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling a little. "Shut up, Leonard."

"Hey, is that any way to talk to an old friend back from the dead?"

Several more blasts flashed by the doorway. Sara and Leonard could hear raised voices nearby. Leonard leaned in closer to Sara. "What's going on?" he asked, his tone more serious than before. "Please don't tell me this is still Savage."

"What? Oh, no! Not at all," Sara assured him. "Savage is gone. Long gone."

"Good," he said, relieved. That brought up several questions about why the Legends were still on the Waverider, since their mission to kill Savage was no longer in effect, but Leonard thought it best to save those questions for later. "So, what is this, then?"

Rather than explain the insanity of the past twenty-four hours, Sara gave him a short answer that she knew would make more sense. "Alexa."

Leonard nodded understandingly. They'd done something, and some part of it had gone unexpectedly wrong, just as all the best laid plans do. He stepped out from his hiding spot and took a quick look around the edge of the door, then stood back in his place beside Sara. "I take it Alexa came in the form of time pirates," he observed.

"Exactly."

Sara's comms buzzed. A voice came through. It was John Constantine's.

"Looks like the storm's done blocking our signal," he said. "Sara, we've got a situation. They're loose."

"Already figured that out, John," she replied.

"Yeah, well," he continued, "they also locked me and Mona into the brig during the last quake."

Sara groaned. "Are you serious?"

"I am, love. And it seems Raymond made it magic-proof after your various altercations with Damien Darhk. Brilliant decision, but not so brilliant right now."

"And you want me to let you out?" Sara guessed.

"That we would," John replied. "I heard some chatter on the comms and it sounds like Mick's planning a little ambush for our intruders on the bridge. Figure he could use a master of the dark arts on his side." He paused. "And, uh, Mona wants to help, too."

At first, Sara was surprised that Mick had seemingly alerted the rest of the team of the plan and not her. Then, she wasn't. Mick wanted her to protect Leonard, even if that meant his ambush was short a person. It was sweet, if a little insubordinate. She could deal with him later. "On my way," she said into her comms. She turned to Leonard. "I have to go. John and Mona…they're new teammates. Well, new-ish. They need help. Stay here."

Leonard shook his head. His brow furrowed. "No," he said, "I'm going with you."

Sara disagreed. "No, no you are not. You are staying here in the med bay where you can rest. You've been through a lot today. I can handle it on my own."

"I feel fine," he insisted. "If you're going to run out into a ship full of time pirates, you'll need someone to watch your back. And, if I remember correctly, the Legends are a team. Teammates look out for each other."

"Leonard…"

"Look, I know I've been gone for a while, but I'm still your teammate. Teammates don't let each other run out into the middle of a fight alone if they can help it." When she didn't respond, he added, "I won't get in your way. Do your thing and I'll follow your lead. Just let me be your teammate again, Sara. That's all I'm asking."

Sara looked back over her shoulder, then returned her gaze to him. "Fine," she said, "but be careful. If anything happens to you, Mick will kill me."

Leonard smiled at the mention of his best friend. "I'm sure he'd kill me first," he joked.

Sara turned around, ready to run. "On my signal," she said.

Leonard stood close behind her. Before she could give a signal, he added, "Oh, and one more thing."

"What?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

He gestured to the cold gun in her hands. "Mind if I…?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course." She handed it off to him. "I'm better with these anyway." She pulled two contracted batons out of her pockets, expanded them, then connected them together into one long staff.

Leonard took a moment to feel the weight of the cold gun in his hands. He wasn't sure if it really felt like three years had passed, but it definitely felt like it had been too long. His dark goggles apparently hadn't survived the explosion, judging by the fact that they were not hanging around his neck in their usual place, but he could live with the glare for now.

Sara returned to her position. "Okay. Ready now?"

"Yeah."

"Go!"

She darted out from their hiding place. Two of the pirates fired at her. She dodged them and was immediately followed by Leonard, who blasted the cold gun at them, keeping them at a distance while Sara ran around the corner toward the brig. Once she was safely out of range, he turned and ran after her, firing behind him every few paces just to make sure they weren't followed. He looked down at his cold gun after firing it and grinned. He loved this. The adrenaline. The thrill of the chase. _It is so good to be back_, he thought as he turned the corner, chasing after Sara.

* * *

**A/N: I know that was a really long chapter (and I almost made it longer), but Snart's back now, so I hope it was worth the wait!**

***edit* I changed a couple of Snart's lines in the last section since originally posting. I'm going to try not to do that again, but what I wrote felt a little off and it was bothering me while I was trying to write the next part, so I edited it to stop it from distracting me. It doesn't change anything in the plot or events of the chapter. I just thought it sounded better and more in character for Leonard. Now, I'll get back to writing what happens when Leonard and Sara find Constantine and Mona...**


	10. Reunited

Mona looked nervously around her glass surroundings. She didn't usually mix well with tight spaces. The brig wasn't the tiniest place she'd ever been in, but she still couldn't help feeling a little claustrophobic. "Mr. Constantine," she said softly, "does the room seem like it's getting smaller to you?"

John patted her on the shoulder. "No, sweetheart. It's just your imagination."

"I can't believe they got out," she said, shaking her head disappointedly. "We were doing so well. We literally had all of them inside, and now they're all loose. Well…all except him." She looked down at the sleeping pirate in the back of the brig, still under John's hypnosis.

"Easy, love," John said, leaning back against the clear front wall. "Sara's getting us out of here. Once she does, we'll show those pirates what happens when they mess with us."

As if on cue, Sara burst through the door, entering the outer section of the room surrounding the brig. "You'd better have a good story for how this happened," she said, looking pointedly at John.

"Ah! Sara! Perfect timing," he replied, spinning around to face her.

A second later, someone else ran into the room. A tall man with short gray hair, dark clothes, and a cold gun. He kept his weapon pointed at the door until it closed, then turned around to face Sara. "Didn't see anyone following us," he told her. "We should be safe for now."

Mona's face lit up as she recognized him. She grabbed Constantine's arm excitedly, "Mr. Constantine, look!" she exclaimed. "It's Leonard Snart! He's okay!"

Leonard gave her a quick wave with the hand not currently holding the cold gun. "Always pleased to meet a fan," he drawled. "And you two are…?"

"John Constantine," John said, stepping closer to the glass, "master of the dark arts. I'd shake hands but," he knocked his knuckles twice against the clear barrier in front of him, "someone taught Dr. Palmer how to make this place contain a master magician."

Mona joined John closer to the glass wall. "My name's Mona," she said. "Mona Wu." Sara placed her hand over the key pad. It glowed green and the door slid open. Mona quickly rushed out of the small space and approached Leonard. He took a step back, keeping himself an arm's length away from her. Mona didn't seem to notice. "I'm so glad you're okay, Mr. Snart!" she gushed. "I mean, Dr. Snow said you were stable, but it was all so insane what we were doing. I was still worried you wouldn't…"

"Mona's our newbie," John interrupted as he strolled casually out of the brig, "which means she still gets easily excited when we do things."

Mona huffed. "I'm not that much of a newbie. I've been around almost as long as Charlie. Plus, Nora's the newest Legend to officially join, remember?"

"Okay, so you and Nora are both newbies, then," John allowed. "But in fairness, we did already know Nora before we met you. And Charlie's still been on the ship a bit longer." John turned to Leonard, who looked completely lost. "You don't know who we're talking about at all, do you?"

"That would be a no," Leonard replied. There definitely hadn't been a Nora, Charlie, John, or Mona on the team the last time he'd been on the Waverider. _Sounds like the Legends' membership changed a lot in the past three years_, he thought. _But why?_

"We can worry about introductions later," Sara said, taking control of the conversation. "John, you said Mick had a plan to ambush the time pirates. Care to fill me in?"

"Of course, love," John said. Leonard bristled at the sound of the strange British man referring to Sara as "love." The master of the dark arts continued to explain, "Mick's luring the pirates to the bridge. The S.T.A.R. Labs crew are all going to pop in with one of those breach openers and block one side's exit. Ray and the engine room team are going to block the other side and shut them in."

"So, Mick's plan is to get them cornered," Sara summarized, "and force them to surrender."

Leonard crossed his arms and leaned in toward her. "No offense to Mick, but I don't remember him being much for plans. Did that change while I was gone?"

"Hardly," Sara replied, laughing a little. "I think he's just a bit more focused today than usual."

Constantine nodded. "That's right. Something about wanting to get those pirates out of here before his partner wakes up. Well," he held a hand out, gesturing toward Leonard, "so much for that part of the plan, eh?"

"Yeah," Sara said with a shrug, "but you know what they say about the best laid plans."

She glanced sideways at Leonard. He silently returned her look, understanding some unspoken reference. John and Mona watched the two of them, feeling a bit outside the circle.

"Um, is there an inside joke here?" Mona asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Something like that," Sara answered, returning her attention to the whole group. "Mick's plan isn't half bad, but he's going to need some help."

"And the team," Mona added, "is going to need their captain."

"Agreed," John nodded.

Leonard noted how intently the two new Legends were looking at Sara and connected the dots. "Wait," he said, holding up a hand to pause the conversation. "Hold on just a minute." He took a step closer to the group and turned to Sara. "Captain?"

Sara grinned and crossed her arms. "Yeah. Got a problem with that, Leonard?"

"No," he immediately answered. "Not at all." He hadn't been expecting that piece of news, but it wasn't shocking to him. _If anyone's capable of leading a team of time traveling misfits like the Legends,_ he thought, _it would be Sara_. The corner of his mouth curved up into a slight smile. "It fits."

Sara smiled a little and looked down, trying to avoid eye contact. She had a feeling he had the same admiring look in his eyes as he'd had on their first mission when she'd given her speech convincing the rest of the Legends to stay in spite of Rip's dishonesty. She wasn't ready for him to look at her like that again. She looked up at Constantine and Mona, still not quite facing Leonard. "I counted seven pirates when they attacked us in the med bay," she said. "Is that all of them, or are there more?"

Mona pointed at the sleeping pirate in the brig. "He makes eight."

"Got him under hypnosis," Constantine told Sara. "Out like a light. No need to worry about him, love."

Leonard narrowed his eyes, regarding John with suspicion. _Why does he keep calling her that?_ he wondered. He took a small step closer to Sara's side.

"So, seven, then," Sara said, thinking. "Hm…Mick's plan will definitely outnumber them, but they'll probably try to force a time jump if they're cornered in the bridge."

"Which sounds like our cue," Leonard said. Constantine and Mona turned their heads toward him, surprised to hear him jumping in. "What?" he said, reacting to their expressions. "It's the obvious move."

"Snart's right," Sara agreed immediately. "The other two groups are blocking the exits."

"And Mick is the bait," Leonard added without missing a beat.

"Which makes guarding the controls and taking down the captain the one job left," Sara said.

"And we're the last crew left to do it."

"So, you guys will run for the controls."

"While Sara goes for the captain."

"Exactly," Sara nodded, concluding their rapid-fire statements.

Mona pointed at them, waving her finger between Sara and Leonard. "Whoa, that was super in sync. Did you guys rehearse that, or…?"

"No, Mona, and that's not important now," Sara said, dismissing her observation. "We need to get to the bridge before the pirates do. Let's go."

Constantine and Mona obediently headed toward the door. Sara stepped in front of Leonard, preventing him from following them. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, her eyes searching his face for any sign of pain or fatigue. "I'm not sending you out there if you're not."

"I'm sure," Leonard replied. "Don't worry about me."

"Really?" she pressed further. "I mean, you were stuck in the timeline for three years and got pulled out less than an hour ago. That doesn't sound like something you can just walk off."

He shrugged. "Guess things aren't always what you'd expect. Not that I don't appreciate your concern," he added teasingly. "It really is adorable."

Sara crossed her arms. "It's not adorable. It's my responsibility as captain. Making sure everyone stays safe is my job. You were the first Legend we really lost. You were dead, Leonard. I can't…we can't lose you twice, okay?"

If Leonard noticed the slight betrayal of emotion in her voice, his face didn't show it. "Then I suppose I'll have to make sure I don't get lost," he said, lifting his cold gun into firing position. He nodded toward the door. "After you…Captain."

She wanted to argue more, but knew he'd made up his mind. The two of them joined Constantine and Mona, exiting the brig and making their way toward Mick's ambush.

* * *

Realizing that the captain of the ship had gotten away, the last of the pirates ran toward the bridge. "Let's take it and go!" one of them shouted. "The captain's gone! We should time jump out of here before Hunter and his friends are onto us!" The others loudly voiced their agreement.

"Like I said," Mick's voice said from behind them, "fat chance!"

The pirates turned around to see Mick standing alone in the entrance to the parlor, his weapon drawn and pointed at them. The leader of the crew laughed. "Ha! Think you can take us alone?"

Mick grinned, a wild gleam in his eye. "Well, they do say I'm the dumb one."

The pirates prepared to charge at him, but they froze when they saw a strange blue portal open up to Mick's right. Out of the portal stepped the Flash, Nora Darhk, Joe West, Iris West-Allen, and Killer Frost. Barry waved a little blue triangle-shaped device at the pirates as the portal closed behind the group. "These things really do come in handy," he smiled.

The group stood together, fully blocking the exit from the bridge. Iris pointed her blaster at the time pirate leader. "I wouldn't move if I were you," she warned.

"She means business," Joe added, pointing his own gun at the pirate crew, "and so do the rest of us. If I were you, I'd sit your time butts down and surrender."

"And I wouldn't count on your buddies for backup either," Nora said. "They're getting really comfortable down in the pipeline."

The pirates looked toward the opposite end of the bridge. There was another way out through the other side. They weren't cornered yet.

Just then, Ray, Nate, Zari, Charlie, Wally, and Cisco arrived, blocking the second exit. Ray was still suited up as the A.T.O.M and Charlie held the blaster she'd been given by Barry. Cisco stood on the far side of the group, holding one of Ray's shrink rays in his hand and aiming it at the leader. Zari leaned against Nate's steel frame, still wincing from the blaster wound. She held up her totem threateningly. "Consider yourselves trapped," she said.

"And outnumbered," Wally added.

The time pirates' leader stepped forward, staring down Mick. "Not by much. I think we can still take this ship. Your captain isn't even here to fight! What did she do? Run away like a coward?"

"Ha!" Sara taunted, running into the room. She pushed her way past Cisco and pointed her staff at the leader. "You wish."

John, Mona, and Leonard arrived seconds after her. They stopped just behind the other Legends, who were too focused on the scene before them to look back and notice the new arrivals. "Stay here," John whispered to Leonard. "Watch Mona while I go for the controls."

"What?" Leonard reacted. "I don't…"

"He doesn't need to watch me!" Mona hissed.

John ignored them and pushed his way into the center of the room and sprinted to the captain's chair. Two of the pirates turned toward him, preparing to attack. He muttered several magic words and spread his hands outward, creating a glowing ring of strange symbols in the air. "I wouldn't try getting past a magic forcefield," he warned. "It won't go well. For you, at least."

Leonard raised his eyebrows._ So that's what "master of the dark arts" means_, he thought. _That's…interesting._

Sara swept her staff in a circle and knocked the pirate leader to his knees. Before he could get up, she spun her weapon and placed one end of it against his chest. "This is my ship," she declared, "and my crew. You've already lost. Call your men off now and you'll make things a lot easier for everyone."

Leonard couldn't help smiling as he watched her take charge. He'd always liked this side of her. He'd seen it before when she'd led the way to save the rest of the Legends from the Time Masters. Yes, being the captain of the team really did fit her.

The pirates looked frantically around them in every direction. At the left exit, five heroes stood ready to fight them. At the right exit, six more stood, also prepared to fight. At the front of the ship, a warlock in a loose tie and trench coat was blocking access to the ship's controls with magic that they didn't dare risk approaching. In the center of the room, their captain was clearly in a vulnerable position and beginning to consider the possibility of surrender. Behind them, the parlor, which had relatively little strategic value, was guarded by one rough-looking man with a heat gun.

In a panic, one pirate decided he had to do something, anything, to break the tension. He noticed that the attention of the room was on Sara and the pirate leader, and that Mick stood alone. Taking his chance, he drew his blaster in a moment, aiming for Mick…

Cisco felt a rush of cold air beside him. The blaster turned to solid ice. The time pirate cried out in shock as he felt the sudden cold and dropped it, shattering it into pieces.

Barry turned to Killer Frost, who held up her hands and shrugged. "Wasn't me."

In the corner of his eye, Cisco recognized a familiar shape. He turned to see Leonard Snart standing in the space between him and the wall, his cold gun still glowing blue from the shot. Cisco gasped, "No. Freaking. Way."

Leonard stepped out of the group and into the center of the room, stopping beside Sara, the cold gun still drawn in front of him. Mick's jaw dropped. The other heroes stared at him, eyes wide. Leonard kept his weapon aimed at the pirate who had attacked Mick but spoke to the leader. "You should probably listen to her," he growled.

This was the last straw. After only a few more moments of deliberation, the time pirate captain gave his crew the order to drop their weapons. As soon as they did, Barry and Wally speedily moved each of them back into the brig. When they finished, they returned to the bridge, where a stunned silence awaited them as Team Flash and the Legends stared at Leonard Snart, back from the dead.

"What's the matter with you?" Snart said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, as he looked around at the mostly unfamiliar faces surrounding him. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost."

Ray laughed. "Ha! Classic Snart."

Mick holstered his heat gun, walked down the steps from the parlor to the bridge, and stared silently at Snart, unable to believe his eyes. He glanced at Sara. "You see him too, right?"

Sara nodded, smiling. "Yep. He's back."

Mick looked back at Leonard and walked the remaining distance to stand in front of him. "You…little…you idiot," he said, pointing his finger at Leonard's chest. "How many times do I have to save you, huh?"

"Pretty sure I saved you," Leonard pointed out.

Ray interjected, "Also, this was more of a group effort. Ow!" he exclaimed as Nate elbowed him into silence.

Mick glared at Ray, then continued to speak slowly as he struggled to find his words, "Yeah, well, don't…don't you…don't ever do anything that…that stupid again. You hear me, Snart? That was stupid! You're not supposed to be stupid." He stopped to breathe, then added more calmly, "You got yourself killed for three years, Snart. It's...it's too long." He sighed. "You're the best guy I ever knew, but pulling something like that? Stupid!"

Leonard smiled. He knew what his partner was trying to say. "Good to see you, too, Mick," he said.

Mick reached out his hand and placed it firmly on Leonard's shoulder. "Yeah," he replied, his voice choking up. "Glad you're back, partner."

After a moment, Mick let go of Leonard's shoulder. The rest of the heroes took that as a signal to let loose. They broke out of their positions from the ambush and swarmed forward, letting out various exclamations of joy.

"Snart!" Barry grinned. "You're okay! This is awesome!"

"That was brilliant!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Captain Cold is back, baby!" Cisco shouted, pumping his fist.

"I've honestly never been happier to see you, Snart," Joe said.

"Dude, I can't believe it worked!" Wally celebrated.

"Wasn't it mostly your idea?" Zari asked him.

"Well, yeah, but…"

Leonard tried to back away from the crowd before they could get too close but found himself trapped by the console in the middle of the bridge. Sara jumped in front of the group and held up her hands to stop them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she said, "give him a little space, guys."

The group stopped moving toward Snart and formed a semicircle facing him. Leonard crossed his arms and leaned back against the console. He recognized Ray, Mick, and Sara, plus Team Flash, of course, but he couldn't place any of the others faces looking at him. There were also several faces he'd expected to see who were missing.

Barry took a small step forward, still maintaining some amount of space from Snart. "Seriously," he said, "we're glad you're back, man."

Snart smirked. "Aw, Flash, you missed me," he drawled. "I'm so touched."

"We all did," Ray added.

Leonard looked toward him skeptically. "Yes, especially those of you here who have never met me. I'm sure they missed me the most."

Ray quickly tried to correct himself. "That's not what I…"

"What Ray means," Sara said, cutting off his explanation, "is we all worked together to bring you back because we're a team, and teammates don't leave each other behind. Even if they've never met each other before." She stepped back to stand against the console beside Leonard. "But what's important is that you're here now. Welcome back, Leonard."

Leonard glanced at the floor, then looked up at her warmly. "Thanks, Sara." He glanced down at his ragged clothes and asked, "I don't suppose Gideon can do something about…this?"

"Of course, Mr. Snart," Gideon's disembodied voice answered. "And, may I add, it is good to see you alive and on board again."

"Great," said Sara. "Nate, Nora, and John, you guys figure out where to send our time pirate prisoners and get them there. Ray and Zari, you two start looking at the damage from the fight and figure out how much time you'll need for repairs. While you're doing that, Mick and I will get Leonard fixed up. Barry, I'll leave your team to you. The rest of you can just hang tight. Everyone got it?"

Barry gave her a thumbs up. Various nods in the crowd indicated that the others agreed. Leonard leaned toward her. "You really are a natural at this whole captain thing, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes, but her face still revealed a small, flattered smile. "Believe me, it takes effort," she answered him. Then, turning to the whole group, she continued, "Okay, Legends, let's go." The team obediently broke off into their groups, following their captain's orders.


	11. New Faces

**A/N: You probably assumed this by now, but since there's actual content coming out for the new LoT season, I should mention that this story is not going to follow anything going on in the current season of the Arrowverse. I'm super excited for Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I probably won't be fully caught up on it for a while, so even though I might throw in occasional references to the crisis and the events of the current season, this fic is not intended to reflect canon after the end of the last LoT/Arrowverse season. Regarding anything up to and including last season, though, I'll try to stay as canon compliant as possible. (As much as I can be with Snart alive, of course!)**

* * *

Sara and Mick sat patiently in the fabrication room. The normally empty room was filled with boxes of Leonard's belongings that had been sitting in storage in the cargo bay until now. Leonard emerged from behind a door, his clothes fully repaired by Gideon's technology. He'd also added a new pair of goggles and a repaired leg holster for the cold gun. He spun the weapon dramatically in his hands, then placed it in its holster. He reached down again and drew it, aimed at the wall, spun it around, then holstered it again in one smooth motion. "Now that's what I'm talking about," he said.

Sara chuckled. "Show off."

Leonard walked over to where Sara and Mick were sitting. "Maybe," he said, smirking playfully at her, "but at least you're enjoying the show."

Mick stood up and stepped closer to Leonard, peering at his newly restored dark clothes. "Gideon did a good job," he observed. "Wouldn't even know you blew up."

"Yeah," Snart agreed, looking down at his outfit. "Of course, she didn't need to bother with the jacket. I've got plenty more."

"Of course you do," Sara said, not at all surprised. "I don't know what your deal is with layers, but your parkas really came in handy earlier this year. We got trapped in an avalanche and nearly froze."

Snart looked back at her. "Trapped in an avalanche, huh?" He pulled over a chair into the space next to her and sat down, joining his two closest friends. "I was wondering what you guys got up to without me."

Mick sat back down, holding up a finger for each item he listed. "Aliens, magic, Nazis, demons, Beebo, Aruba, Time Bureau, a lot of weird creatures, kidnapped Nixon that one time, uh…oh, and Haircut got stuck in Hell."

Leonard turned his head toward his partner, looking at him in disbelief. "Raymond did what?"

"Don't worry," Sara quickly explained, "The team got him out. He's fine now."

Leonard leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the box in front of him, puzzling silently over everything Mick and Sara had said. "Sounds like it's been a strange three years," he finally said.

"You could say that again," Mick agreed.

Charlie stuck her head into the fabrication room from behind the doorway. "Oi, Captain!" she called. "Mind if I borrow you for a minute?" She noticed Leonard sitting with the other two Legends and added, "Looks good as new, mate!"

"Be right there," Sara responded. "Duty calls," she said as she stood up. "I'll be back in a second." She headed out of the room and walked away with Charlie.

Leonard watched her go, then looked to Mick. "So, that one was…?"

"Charlie," Mick answered.

"Charlie," Leonard repeated with a nod, committing her name and face to his memory. "Got it."

"She's a shapeshifter," Mick elaborated. "Picked her up in the seventies."

"Tell me, partner," Leonard asked, "why all the new faces? I barely recognize this crew."

Mick shrugged. "Three years. Stuff changes."

Snart looked around the fabrication room, noting several differences in its layout and contents. "Seems like it," he said, returning his gaze to his partner. His tone turned a little more serious as he began to question him, though he maintained a trace of his sarcastic drawl. "Looks like Kendra's not around. Last I remember, she was Savage's prisoner. What happened? Did he kill her?"

"No, we saved her," Mick replied. "Killed Savage, too. Three times."

"Three times?"

"Yep. Time travel's weird. But she left the team with Birdman after we took Savage out. Something about wanting to have a new life or whatever. Don't know what they're up to these days."

"Huh…okay." Leonard thought for a moment about which question to ask next. "Where's Jax? Haven't seen him on the ship."

"He left too," Mick answered. "It was, uh, last year. Decided to try something new after his partner…"

"Stein."

"Yeah, him. He, uh…he didn't make it."

Leonard frowned. "Stein died? How?"

"Nazis." Mick paused, then backtracked to explain. "Not time travel Nazis. Earth-X Nazis. It's this other world where they won World War Two. Except now they didn't, because we beat them. Long story, but they crashed the Flash's wedding and we fought back. So did all the other hero types who were invited. But anyway, before we beat them, they got the professor." He sighed, then added, "He fought to the end, though. Only gave up so the kid wouldn't die with him."

Leonard looked down at the floor, still frowning. "That's too bad. He was a good man."

"Yeah, well," Mick said, trying to think of something to lighten the mood, "the kid's doing all right. Got married and has kid of his own now. Or, maybe that's not until next year…I don't know." He waved his hand aimlessly. "Time travel."

Sara reentered the room. "Rory," she said, capturing both the attention of both rogues, "Charlie and Mona need you."

Mick grimaced. "For what?" He gestured toward Leonard. "I'm catching my partner up. Pretty busy here."

Sara walked over to his side. "Captain's orders," she said, leaning in toward him.

"When has that ever gotten me to do anything?" he scoffed.

She placed her hands on her hips and looked down at him intimidatingly. "Mick, it's about the thing."

"What thing?" he asked. She continued to stare at him until he realized what she meant. His gruff demeanor softened slightly. "Oh…you mean _that_ thing."

"Yeah. That thing."

Mick turned to his partner. "I…uh…I have to…there's a…"

"Thing?" Leonard guessed.

"Yeah." Mick stood up. "A thing. Your turn, Sara. Don't let him get in any trouble without me." He turned and left the room, stomping out the door and into the corridor leading to wherever Charlie and Mona were.

Sara took over Mick's chair, opposite Leonard. "So…Mick's been catching you up?"

"A little," Leonard replied. "He said the Hawks left, then Stein died, and then Jax left. And something about a place called Earth-X." He stopped talking for a moment, his eyes centering on Sara. There she was, sitting right in front of him, still as beautiful as he remembered. She gave him a funny look and he glanced away. He wasn't sure what to say, but he felt like he had to explain his staring somehow. "I…uh…I didn't think I was ever going to see you again," he said in a low voice. "Or this place, or the team. Well, what's left of it, anyway."

"I know," she said, scooting her chair closer to him. "I didn't think so either. You've really got the new Legends to thank for that. They're the ones who figured out how to bring you back."

Leonard looked back at her, his eyes revealing a level of joy that the rest of his face was trying very hard to hide. "Good thing they did." He relaxed a little, then added, "Sounds like you've had an eventful three years. What's it like, being captain of this crew?"

She laughed. "It's been an experience. Sometimes I feel like they think I'm their mom."

He nodded slowly. "Captain Sara Lance," he said, pronouncing each syllable of her full title carefully. He took his feet off the box and leaned forward toward her, smiling. "It has a nice ring to it."

"I don't remember you giving our previous captain this much support," Sara remarked.

"That's because I've got a lot more respect for you than for Rip," he returned. "You know that. Where is he, anyway? What did he do, quit and leave you in charge?"

Sara's face fell. "Rip's dead, Leonard."

Leonard froze. He straightened up in his chair and looked away uncomfortably. "Sorry to hear that," he said. "What happened?"

"He sacrificed himself to save the rest of us," she answered sadly. "We had our fair share of disagreements, but he was always a good man. Without him, I never would have found my place here." She made eye contact with Leonard and couldn't look away. She normally avoided sharing her feelings when she didn't have to, but she had always felt so comfortable talking to Leonard during their first mission. Now that he was back, she couldn't help thinking of all the things she would've told him for the past three years if he'd been around. The words came out before she could stop them. "I've lost so many people, Leonard. Not just Rip and Stein. I try not to think about it, but it never gets easier. First you, then Laurel…"

"Laurel?" Leonard's eyes widened, horrified. "No. Not your sister."

"Yes. My sister."

Leonard felt anger rise inside him. If someone ever killed Lisa, he didn't know what he would do, but it wouldn't be good. He hated the thought of Sara in any kind of pain, let alone the kind her sister's death must have put her through. "How?" he growled, his hand resting instinctively over the cold gun strapped to his leg. "Who did this?"

Sara grimaced. Time had made it easier for her to talk about Laurel's death, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. "Damien Darhk," she finally answered. "He killed my sister to retaliate against my father for betraying him. It happened while we were still on our first mission. I didn't even know until I got home."

"Damien Darhk," Leonard repeated, thinking. Sara watched his face carefully, wondering if there was any sign of recognition. There wasn't. "Can't say I know much about him," Leonard told her, "but if I ever run into that guy…well, he'll wish I didn't." He noticed the odd expression on Sara's face. "What? Something wrong?"

Sara quickly snapped herself out of her memories of the last time Leonard had run into Damien Darhk. "We've already fought him a few times," she said, "and I doubt we will again. He died. Twice, actually."

Leonard slowly moved his hand away from the cold gun. "Let me guess, time travel?"

"Time travel."

"I see." He tried to think of something else to ask her about. "How's your dad? Is he okay?"

Sara shook her head. "He was actually killed last year. Ricardo Diaz," she said, answering Leonard's next question before he could ask it, "and yes, he's dead too."

Leonard noticed the sorrow in her eyes. He couldn't help feeling a bit guilty. _If I'd been there_, he thought, _maybe I could have done something to save them. Even just one of them. Or if I couldn't, at least she wouldn't have been alone. She should never have gone through this alone._ He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how. He reached out and took her hands in his. "Sara," he said softly, his voice lacking its usual layer of snark, "none of this should have happened to you. I…I'm sorry."

She shook her head dismissively. "Don't be."

"But I am," he insisted. "I should have been there. Here. With you."

She glanced down at her hands, still in his. Something about the way he spoke reminded her of one of the last conversations they'd had. _Me and you._ She pulled her hands away suddenly. She couldn't think about that right now. "Well, in that case," Sara said, "I'm the one who should be sorry."

Leonard looked at her confusedly. "For what?"

"For taking three years to save you."

"What?" Leonard clearly thought the suggestion was ridiculous. "That's not your fault. You've got nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who was being a jerk, remember? I'm the one who should be sorry."

Sara remembered the last time she'd called him that, shortly after he'd very unsuccessfully attempted to threaten her with his cold gun. "You already apologized for that."

"Well, I think it warrants a second apology."

Sara threw up her hands exasperatedly. "Seriously, Leonard, stop acting like you're the bad guy here. I literally left you to die. Alone. I know how much that hurts. I'm the one who should apologize, okay?"

"Only after I told you to go," he argued. "I'd have been a lot more upset if you'd stayed."

"Doesn't make it right. Isn't not leaving anyone behind your number one rule?"

"It is. I don't leave people behind. But if I tell you to leave me behind, that's different."

"Well, I'm still sorry."

"So am I."

Sara held up her hand to stop the conversation. She took a deep breath to calm down, then said, "Okay, how about this: we both agree that we're sorry and we both forgive each other. Deal?"

"There's nothing to forgive you for, Sara."

Sara crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "Do we have a deal or not, Leonard?"

Leonard stared at her silently for a moment. He knew he couldn't win. "Deal," he said.

She smiled victoriously. "Good." The two of them sat there silently for a few moments. Then, Sara brought up a new subject. "Enough about the past," she said. "Let's talk about now. How's it feel to be alive again? I mean, I know you technically weren't dead, but you were pretty close to it."

Leonard thought about it. "It feels…interesting. I don't know if I can explain it."

"Try me," Sara encouraged. "I've been dead before. I probably have the closest experience possible to yours, even if it's not exact."

Leonard smirked. "We do have so much in common," he drawled.

"Leonard, come on," she said, leaning closer to him. "Tell me."

"Okay." He spent a few seconds contemplating the best way to describe it. "The strangest thing about it is time," he began to explain. "When I was…there, I couldn't tell how long everything was taking. It felt, and still feels, like I'd been gone for centuries. But on the other hand, my memories feel so recent, like it all happened yesterday."

"Like what all happened? The Oculus?"

He nodded. "Yeah." His eyes involuntarily focused on her lips as he remembered that special moment they'd shared before the explosion. It really did feel like yesterday. He blinked and looked back up at her eyes, hoping she hadn't noticed. "So…the Oculus," he said. "That was three years ago for you, right?"

"Yes," she answered. "It was."

He hesitated, trying to think of what to say. There were so many words he'd wished he'd said to her in the moments before the Oculus was destroyed. There were even more that he'd wished he'd said all throughout their first mission. _But how do I even start?_ he wondered. _It's been three years for her. She might not even remember it_. Maybe he couldn't say everything he wanted, but he had to say something. "Three years is a long time," he said, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. "Do you…uh…remember the Oculus?"

She smiled fondly. She still felt too emotionally conflicted to think about "me and you," but she didn't mind being reminded of their kiss for a moment. Now that Leonard was alive, it wasn't a sad memory anymore. "Yes," she said, "I do." She decided to redirect the conversation before he could press further and quickly came up with an excuse. "And I just remembered that there's a thing I need to show you." She checked her watch. "Right now, actually."

He arched an eyebrow. "Thing? Is that what Mick's doing?"

"Yep."

"Do I get to know what it is?"

"In a minute." She jumped up to her feet. "Follow me."

He stood up, still looking puzzled. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," she said with a teasing grin. She walked to the doorway and stopped, waiting for him. "Come on, Leonard!"

He gave in and followed her. "Right behind you, Captain."

* * *

"Hey!" Mick barked, nearly bumping into Sara and Leonard in the S.T.A.R. Labs hallway. "I was just about to come and get you two."

"For what?" Leonard asked, throwing a suspicious glance at Sara.

"He's been asking me what's going on this whole way," Sara explained. "I said I can't tell him, but he does not give up."

"No, I do not," Leonard agreed. "Mick, what are we doing walking toward the central room of S.T.A.R. Labs? And don't look surprised," he added, turning to Sara. "I've been here a million times. Sometimes even by invitation."

Sara rolled her eyes. "I said we're almost there, Leonard. Just be patient."

"Fine." He craned his neck to see behind Mick. The entrance to the central room was dark, and everything was quiet. Very quiet. "People are going to jump out and yell 'surprise' as soon as we walk in there, aren't they?" he asked.

Sara and Mick exchanged looks.

"Pfft! Where'd you get that idea?" Sara denied. "That…that would be crazy. Right, Mick?"

"Yeah," Mick agreed with an exaggerated nod. "Dumbest idea ever."

Leonard groaned. "Guys, just because I came back to life this afternoon doesn't mean I was born yesterday."

Mick grunted and elbowed Sara. "I told you he'd figure it out. Surprise parties are stupid."

"Don't look at me," she retorted. "It was Charlie's idea. And thanks for officially giving it away."

Leonard crossed his arms, watching them bicker. "Are you two done?"

"Yeah, we're good," Sara said, turning back to him. "You're right. The new Legends wanted to celebrate, and they thought it would be a nice way to get to know you. Since, you know, none of them really do. Just act surprised, okay?"

He dropped his arms and teased sarcastically, "Well, if the captain says so…"

"They worked hard," Sara told him. "Play nice."

The three of them walked to the entrance to the main room of S.T.A.R. Labs, which was still very dark and very quiet. Sara and Mick stepped back so they were slightly behind Leonard. Somewhere in the room, a voice Leonard recognized as Barry's whispered, "One, two, three!"

"Surprise!" a chorus of voices shouted.

The lights turned on and the members of the Legends and Team Flash jumped out of their various hiding places. A banner hung from the ceiling that said, "Welcome back, Snart!" in very uneven handwritten letters. Blue and white balloons floated in random positions along the ceiling.

"Wow," Leonard deadpanned. "I am _so_ surprised."

Ray did not seem to recognize his sarcasm. "Yes! I knew we'd surprise you!"

Leonard thought of a snarky response, but a warning look from Sara stopped him from saying it.

Charlie stepped forward, holding a half-filled balloon closed with her fingers. Mona joined her. "Glad you made it down here, mate!" she cheered. "Zari said we could have a party once you were up and walking, so once those pirates were gone, I thought, why not?"

"That's definitely not what happened," Zari corrected from her position against the opposite wall.

Mona picked up where Charlie left off, "Captain Lance helped us pick out all the decorations, and Wally's got a music playlist. Also, we have pizza, and chips, and…"

"Booze," Mick interrupted. "Don't forget booze. What?" he asked, noticing the eyes of the room staring at him. "Can't have a party without it."

Charlie grinned. "Got that right."

"Well," Sara said, stepping out from behind Leonard, "what are we waiting for?"

Nate, standing beside Zari, cupped his hands to his mouth. "Whoo!" he shouted. "Let's get this party started!"

Wally hit the button to start his playlist. The Legends and Team Flash dove into food and drink supply. Barry speedily finished two slices of pizza, then pulled Iris with him to the middle of the room, which had been cleared out for dancing. Ray joined in, followed by Nate, who dragged along a reluctant Zari.

Leonard picked up a beer bottle and made his way to the back wall, observing the scene carefully. He wasn't the most social person in the world but seeing everyone in one place provided a perfect opportunity to study just who all these new Legends were. He already recognized Mona, who stood by the stack of pizza boxes. She seemed deep in conversation with Caitlin Snow, who Leonard remembered well. He also recognized John Constantine, who he saw try to pull out a cigarette before getting it plucked out of his hands by Joe West. On the dance floor, Leonard spotted the woman Mick had identified as Charlie. She was dressed in layers of funky, ripped clothes, aiming for what Leonard guessed was a punk rock style. She danced in the middle of the floor, obviously having a very good time. Leonard also recognized Wally West, who was sorting through his phone's music at Charlie's request. The two of them had never directly fought each other, but when he'd learned Barry's identity, Leonard had made it his business to know everything he could about the West and Allen families. Judging by the rings he now noticed on Iris's and Barry's fingers, it seemed that those families weren't so separate anymore.

There were several other people who he still didn't know. There was a man who seemed very close with Raymond, judging by how much the two of them were joking around with each other. Leonard assumed from his general shape that he had been the steel man he'd seen on the bridge. With him was a dark-haired woman who seemed less than thrilled with his jokes, although she smiled at them anyway. On her wrist was an ancient-looking red jewel or stone of some kind. Leonard wondered how much it would be worth if he stole it. There was also another dark-haired woman in the far corner of the room, passing a beer to Mick. She was about the same size as the first woman, although her clothes were much darker.

Charlie hopped in front of him, interrupting his observations. "Hey, mate," she said, "I know I saw you before, but I don't think we've been introduced. The name's Charlie."

Leonard nodded in acknowledgement. "Mick told me you're a shapeshifter."

"That I am," she replied. "I can shift into anyone or anything. Joined the team in 1977 after Ray infiltrated my band." She paused, analyzing him. "You're taller than I expected."

He wasn't sure how to react. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome. So, why all the coats?"

"What about them?"

"You have at least five of the same one," she pointed out. "Nice of you to leave them around in case of an avalanche, but I've been wondering why you've got so many."

He shrugged. "Don't see why that's any of your business."

Charlie nodded understandingly. "Secretive bloke, aren't you? Well, that's fine by me. I like a good mystery."

Zari stepped off the dance floor and tapped Charlie on the shoulder. "My turn, Charlie," she said.

Charlie gave her a friendly punch on the arm. "Right, right," she conceded. "I hear the dance floor calling me anyway. Later, mate!" She ran to take Zari's place among the dancing heroes.

Before Leonard could say anything, Zari spoke, "Just so you know, people are going to be coming over and introducing themselves to you literally all throughout this party. You might as well set up a table and start an autograph line."

Leonard had to respect the casual deadpan attitude of this new person. "In that case, I guess you're up next."

"Yep." She lifted her wrist to show her totem. "Zari Tomaz. Hacker from the future with wind powers."

Leonard tilted his head to the side. "Wind powers, huh?"

Zari opened her palm and used her totem to create a tiny, spinning sphere of wind in her hand. "For the record," she said as the sphere disappeared, "I'm a lot more than just a magical hairdryer, so don't even think about comparing me to one."

"Got it," he said. _And that red thing is definitely more valuable than I thought_, he mentally added.

John Constantine slid into the conversation, bumping Zari out of the way. "Hello, handsome," he said with a wink.

Leonard arched an eyebrow. _Wait, is he flirting with me now?_ he wondered. _Wasn't he just calling Sara "love"_? He decided not to acknowledge it. "I believe we've already met," he said.

"True," John replied, "but I thought I'd stop by anyway. What do you think of all this?" he asked, waving his hand at the team, most of whom were now either dancing or watching the dancers with amusement. "The Legends, I mean. Different now, or as bonkers as they've always been?"

Leonard's vision automatically rested on Sara, who was dancing in the middle of the room near Cisco and the woman he now recognized as Zari. He smiled a little. She still danced the same way she had when they first met. "Based on what Mick's told me, it sounds like they're a little more 'bonkers' these days," he said, looking back at John.

"Only in the best ways, love," John replied, leaning in flirtatiously.

_Hold on, now I'm "love"? Does he just call everyone that?_ Leonard wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.

John continued, "Speaking of things that are bonkers, I've got this great story about the time I met this magic chicken and opened a portal to…"

Nora stepped in and grabbed his arm. "John," she said, interrupting his tale, "Snart just got here. Save your weird stories for later."

"But…"

"Do you want to freak him out? Because this is how you freak people out."

He rolled his eyes at her, then smiled at Leonard. "I suppose I ought to give her a turn too. Maybe later we'll get another chance to, uh, get to know each other better." He strolled away, leaving the two of them alone.

Nora turned to Leonard. "Sorry about him," she said. "John's a great guy, but he can be a lot."

"And who would you be?" Leonard asked.

"Nora Darhk," she answered.

Leonard frowned. "Darhk…like Damien Darhk?"

She groaned, vaguely annoyed to have to go over her backstory. "Ugh, yeah. Here's the spiel: my dad was a bad guy, he got me to join him when I was a kid, we fought the Legends a bunch, stuff got crazy, he started feeling bad about it, then he died to give me another chance, I became a Legend, and now here we are."

Leonard looked at her curiously. From her villainous past, evil father, and even her dark fashion choices, she seemed like someone he could understand. "Sounds like you're a lot better than your old man," he said.

"I hope so," she replied, "but it's a work in progress." She glanced in the direction John had gone, then added, "I imagine John's already told you he's a master of the dark arts. Well, I do basically the same thing. We're kind of the ship's magic team. Except John's a lot showier about it than I am."

"Interesting," Leonard said. He was actually starting to slightly enjoy this conversation.

"Hey, Snart!" Ray Palmer exclaimed, suddenly joining the two of them. He put his arm around Nora. "Looks like you've already met my wonderful girlfriend."

Leonard nearly spat out his beer. "Your what?"

Raymond repeated himself, "My girlfriend." He turned to Nora. "Did you not tell him?"

"I was getting to that part, babe," she answered. "But you two should probably catch up with each other anyway." She kissed Ray on the cheek, waved at Leonard, and walked away.

"Isn't she amazing?" Ray asked after she left. "I'm so lucky."

Leonard could not believe what he was hearing. Nora seemed to him like a genuinely cool person. What was she doing with Raymond of all people? "Unless my memory is off," Leonard commented, "I thought you were still hung up on Kendra."

Ray waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, that's over. She's back with Carter. I was upset at first, but I got over it. It's been three years, after all."

Leonard's eyes darted to Sara's dancing again, then back to Ray. "Yeah. It has."

"It's funny," Ray continued, "I actually had this great talk about that whole situation with Vandal Savage. We were both in Hell, and he was supposed to torture me, but it turns out being dead has really chilled him out. We got into this super deep talk about Kendra and the whole world domination thing. He opened up a lot. It was great. Oh, and then we played Jenga."

Leonard stared at him blankly, trying to process what he'd just heard. "Raymond," he finally said, "not one word of that made any sense."

Ray thought about it, then shrugged. "Yeah. I guess it wouldn't." His face lit up as the music changed. "Oh! This is our song. Nora!" He quickly ran to his girlfriend's side and pulled her onto the dance floor.

Leonard followed them with his eyes and noticed that Sara was no longer dancing. _Where did she go?_ he wondered, scanning the room.

"How's the view?" Sara asked, startling him as she seemed to suddenly appear at his side.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Sara?" he teased. "You've got to give me at least twenty-four hours before I die again, just out of courtesy."

Sara shook her head disapprovingly. "Leonard, I think you're having a little too much fun with all these death jokes. You're going to run out of them soon at this rate."

"Don't underestimate me. I've got plenty more."

"Well, you shouldn't underestimate a reformed assassin's stealth either. You know I've always been able to sneak up on you." She handed him a plate with two slices of pepperoni pizza on it. "Here. This is yours."

He looked down at it, puzzled. "Why?"

"Because you haven't eaten in three years and Mick says you're a pepperoni guy."

He took the plate out of her hands, accepting it. "Pizza," he said sarcastically, "definitely the best thing to eat after three years of nothing."

"Oh, absolutely," Sara agreed, sharing his snarky tone. "Nothing better."

Nate stepped in, facing the two of them. "Mind if I join in?" he asked.

"Not at all," Sara replied. "Leonard, this is Nate Heywood."

"Dr. Nate Heywood," Nate corrected her, emphasizing his title, "also known as Steel." He paused briefly, analyzing Snart's appearance. His clothes were a little different from what he'd been wearing in the Legion of Doom, but everything else about him looked the same. Nate pushed that thought back and resumed the conversation. "So, uh, how are you after, you know…everything?"

Snart flashed a smug smirk at Sara as he answered, "Never felt more alive."

Sara facepalmed.

"Ha! Good one," Nate said, giving Snart a cheerful thumbs up.

"It's really not," Sara disagreed.

Nate didn't acknowledge her comment. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you. I mean, not technically…" he noticed Sara tense him, giving him a warning look, "…because I've heard so much about you, it feels like we've already met. You know?" he explained, quickly recovering.

Leonard studied Nate suspiciously. There was definitely something he wasn't telling him, but he didn't know what it could be. "Oh really? And what have you heard?"

"Just…good things," Nate replied. "All good things. Lots of nice, positive things."

Leonard chuckled wryly. "Then you haven't heard much."

"Stop it," Sara said, lightly nudging Leonard's arm with her shoulder. She turned to look at Nate. "He's kidding. But Nate, can I talk to you for a second? Just to go over what happened with the pirates."

"Of course, Captain," he said. Sara grabbed his arm and pulled him away until they were far out of Leonard's earshot. "Everything went according to plan," he started to explain. "We got them back to 1967 and flashed them all. Rip should have arrested them about five minutes after the jump ship left the scene, so there won't be any trace of…"

"Yeah, I don't actually want to talk about that," Sara cut him off. "I'm sure you did your job."

He tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Then what is it?"

Sara lowered her voice enough for the music to prevent anyone else from hearing her. "I already talked to Ray and Mick about this, but please don't tell Snart about the Legion of Doom." She glanced back at Leonard, still observing the party in silence from his piece of the wall, then back at Nate. "He doesn't remember it and he doesn't need to. If he ever finds out, it…it'll only make things more complicated for him, okay?"

Nate nodded obediently. "Okay. Never bring it up. Got it."

"Thanks," she said, visibly relieved. She paused, then added, "I really appreciate how well you're handling this, by the way. I'm sure it's harder for you than the rest of us."

Nate was surprised. "How so?"

"Well, you're the only one here who only knew Snart as a bad guy," Sara explained. "Team Flash met him as a villain first, but they all saw him change over time. Ray, Mick, and I all met him first as our teammate. The others are blank slates. I mean, I guess Zari, John, and Nora met Leo, but they all know he's a different person. And Charlie and Mona have never met any version of Snart from any earth until now. But for you, your first interaction with him was with the Legion, and you never saw the Snart we all knew on the Waverider."

"That's true," Nate admitted. "It is a little weird. I wasn't totally on board at first, if I'm being honest."

Sara raised her eyebrows questioningly. "What changed your mind?"

Nate looked down for a moment, thinking about his answer. "Do you remember when I was new to the Legends?" he asked, looking back up at his captain.

"Of course." She let out a little laugh. "How could I forget?"

"Come on, Sara, I'm serious." Despite his declared seriousness, he continued to smile as he explained, "When I got hurt for the first time, you immediately knew I was a hemophiliac. I didn't have my powers yet, so you were understandably worried. I told you that I wanted to stay and fight regardless of the risk. Then, you said something to me that I didn't really understand until today."

"And what was that?" she asked, though she had a feeling she knew the answer.

"You said, 'Even the strongest and the bravest of us die,'" he said. "I didn't know much about the team by that point, so I didn't think much about it. But, doing the math, you'd only permanently lost one Legend at that point. Well, 'permanently' might be the wrong word now," he added, forming air quotes around the word, "but that was what you believed at the time, at least." He tilted his head subtly in Leonard's direction. "You were talking about him, weren't you?"

Sara looked down and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I was."

"Then I think I trust my captain enough to be okay with this," Nate concluded.

Sara placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Nate," she said. "That means a lot."

Meanwhile, Mick approached Leonard. He nodded a silent greeting, then turned around the stand next to him, his back against the wall. "So," he asked gruffly, "did you meet everyone yet?"

"I think so," Leonard replied.

Mick took a sip of his beer. "Bunch of freaks."

"And yet, three years later, you're still with them," Leonard pointed out. "I think you might like this bunch of freaks."

Mick grimaced. "I don't do touchy-feely, Snart."

"I know, Mick."

"Good," Mick grunted, taking another swig of his beer.

The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds until Leonard remembered what he wanted to ask. "Have you seen Lisa? Does she know I…"

"Died?"

"Yeah. Or, something like that."

"She knows. I told her when we got back from killing Savage."

Leonard looked away, thinking. "Is she safe?"

Mick shrugged. "Last I heard, but I haven't seen her in a long time. She's always been good at disappearing." He noticed the concerned look in his partner's eyes and assured him, "I'm sure she's safe, Snart. She's strong. She can take care of herself."

Snart nodded, although the look of concern didn't leave his face. "She is and she can. She's my sister, after all."

"Exactly." Mick paused, trying to think of something helpful to say. "Hey, I'm sure we'll run into her eventually. And, when we do, think how happy she'll be to see you. That'll be fun, right?"

Leonard glanced sideways at his partner appreciatively. "Yeah, it will."

Mick tried to take another sip but found his bottle empty. "Ugh! I need another." He turned to his partner. "You want anything?"

He shook his head. "I'm all right."

"Okay." Mick stomped across the room to find himself another beer.

Meanwhile, Sara returned to the dance floor, making her way to join Zari and Charlie. Leonard once again found himself watching her. He couldn't help smiling. It felt like only yesterday when his heart had broken at the realization that he was looking at her for the last time. Now, she was right in front of him, smiling, laughing, and dancing with her friends.

Barry Allen, who had recently rotated off the dance floor for a second helping of pizza, noticed something about Snart. He smiled knowingly, then strolled across the room to join him. "Well, if it isn't Captain Cold," he greeted him.

"My, my, my, the Scarlet Speedster," Snart drawled back.

Barry took a bite of his pizza. "You ever think," he said as he chewed, "what we would have said five years ago if someone had told us we'd be friends in the future?"

"I think friends is a strong word."

"Acquaintances? Frenemies?"

"Pretty sure even frenemies get wedding invitations." He noted Barry's surprised look, then added, "What? I said, 'Don't seat me at the singles table,' not, 'Don't invite me at all.'"

"Snart, you were dead."

"Oh, I see," the master thief replied mockingly. "If you need me to steal something, you can time travel back to 1892 and grab me, but if you're getting married, that's suddenly not an option. Glad to see we figured that out."

"Oh my…come on, Snart," Barry muttered.

"Barry, relax. I've been gone for a while. I need to make up for three years' worth of messing with you."

Barry laughed and shook his head. "Of course you do." He took a step closer, sliding along the wall until he was standing beside him. He noted the direction Leonard was looking and followed his gaze toward Sara, just as he'd suspected. He grinned amusedly, then started talking again. "Hey, you know how I'm a CSI?"

Leonard turned his head to face him, not really sure where he was going with this. "Yeah. So what?"

"So," Barry continued, "we're a lot like detectives. We analyze situations, look for clues, and come up with hypotheses based on the evidence we find."

"Fascinating," Leonard deadpanned.

"Those skills apply to things other than crime scenes, too," Barry said. "It's really helpful as a superhero, you know? The Flash needs to read situations well to do his job. Not just events the happen, but the people in them too. Their actions, their plans, their motivations, everything."

"Barry, are you trying to make a point?"

"Getting to one."

"Well, make it, then."

Barry scooted an inch closer to Leonard, now about as close as he dared to be. "Snart, I think you're in love with Sara Lance."

Leonard froze. The idea itself wasn't shocking when it existed in his own head but hearing Barry Allen say it out loud was not something he was prepared for. He struggled to act unaffected, knowing Barry would take any reaction as confirmation. "And…what makes you think that?"

"A few things," Barry replied. "Body language, first of all. You haven't been able to keep your eyes off her since waking up, and you always look happier when she's near you. You've even been smiling at her. Not your usual snarky smirk thing. I mean a real, genuine smile. And that's not even getting into the look in your eyes when you see her. Take it from a guy who's spent his whole life in love with his best friend: that's not how you look at someone you don't have feelings for."

Barry waited to see if Leonard would respond. When he didn't, he continued, "Sara dropped some clues too. I've never heard anyone outside your family call you by your first name, but she's been doing that all day. Obviously, you've let her in at a level you don't normally let people into. Plus, before we pulled you out, I asked her if you two were close. She seemed pretty attached to you. She said you were really caring toward her and rarely asked anything of her. Sounds to me like the way you'd act if you were in love."

Barry paused again, listening for a response that never came. "Then, there were a few things about the King Shark heist. That comment about the wedding reception, for one thing. But, more importantly, as much as I'd like to take credit for turning you into a hero, something definitely changed about you while you were on the Waverider. The guy who talked me out of killing King Shark seemed a lot more interested in doing the right thing than I remember Captain Cold being, even after we got on better terms. I know you said it was because you wanted the Flash to remain hero and not get my hands dirty, and I do believe that was part of it, but it still felt like there was something driving you to do better, something making you actually want to be good. Or, maybe, someone."

Still no response from Leonard. Barry wrapped up his assertion, "Finally, there's the fact that when I told you Iris could die, that was the thing that changed your mind about helping me. It felt like you just…understood, you know? Like you knew exactly what losing Iris would mean for me. I thought at the time that maybe you had someone like Iris, and maybe you knew what losing that person would mean for you. Well, with all the other clues, I think I know who that person was."

Again, Leonard said nothing. "What do you think, Snart?" Barry asked. "Am I right?"

"I think you should stick to analyzing crime scenes," Leonard said, finally breaking his silence.

"Dude, it's okay to have feelings," Barry said. "Nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Barry, have I ever asked you to get involved in my personal life?"

Barry thought back to his past interactions with Snart. "No, not that I can think of."

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

Barry noted his deflection but went along with it anyway. "I mean, technically, you got into my personal life first when you started kidnapping my friends, so really, you're the one who started this whole personal involvement thing."

Leonard shrugged. "I guess that's fair."

"It is." Barry looked away from Leonard toward the dance floor. Sara and Iris were now dancing next to each other, trying to mimic the moves Charlie was showing them. "I'm not telling you this to flex my CSI skills," Barry said, still facing Iris and Sara. "I'm trying to help you out."

"Oh really?" Leonard asked skeptically. "And how exactly do you think this is helping me?"

"Because," the speedster answered, "I may not have died or gotten stuck in the timeline before, but I've had a lot of close calls. And every time that I think I'm not going to make it, do you know what my potential last thought always is? Iris. Every single time, it's Iris. And, every single time, I think about all the times when I should have told her I loved her and how special she was to me but didn't."

Leonard lowered his eyes to the floor. "The things you didn't do," he said in a voice so low it was barely above a whisper.

"Exactly," Barry nodded. "It's not just those times, either. Sometimes, out of the blue, I remember how many years it took for me to tell her how I felt. I mean, seriously, it took a while. Even Joe was getting impatient. And you know what, Snart? I'm not proud of that. I should have told her a lot sooner, and not just for my sake. For hers. Because she deserved to know how loved she was that whole time." He glanced sideways at Leonard, then continued, "There's no such thing as a risk-free life for a superhero, so I can never really know how much time I have left with Iris. That's why I've decided that the best thing I can do to make up for all those lost moments is to love her now as much as I can for as long as I can. Which brings me to you."

Leonard looked up at him. "Why?" he asked, a clear defensive tone in his voice.

"Because, the way I see it, you just got yourself a second chance. I don't want you to waste it. If you love Sara, don't hold that in. Not that you necessarily have to start reciting sonnets or anything, but definitely don't hide your feelings from her forever. I know your whole thing is coldness, but I think there's room for some warmth in there too."

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Leonard spoke, "Barry, has anyone ever told you that you overshare your emotions?"

Barry nodded. "A few times, actually."

"Well, I'm telling you again. You overshare your emotions."

"Better than undersharing," Barry remarked with a pointed look toward him.

"Whatever," Snart dismissed his comment. "Listen, Barry, I get that you hero types are always looking for someone to help, but I really don't need you getting into my personal business."

"Most people only get one life, Snart. You got two. All I'm saying is to use it wisely."

"And all I'm saying is, I don't need the Scarlet Speedster giving me love advice."

Barry pointed at him, beaming victoriously. "Ha! You do love her!"

"I didn't say that," he hurriedly denied. He knew deep down that it was true, but he wasn't about to give the Flash the satisfaction of being right.

"What's going on here?" Mick bellowed as he approached the two of them. He glared menacingly at Barry. "Flash, if you're bothering my partner…"

"We're just having a little talk," Barry assured him. "Nothing to worry about."

Mick looked to Snart for confirmation. Snart crossed his arms and threw a frustrated glance in Barry's direction. "We're…peachy. Everything's just peachy."

Sara walked away from her fellow dancers and joined them. "Thought I'd take a break. Charlie's got enough dancing in her for all of us. What is this, a Flash and rogues reunion?" she asked.

Leonard tried very hard to pretend Barry wasn't there as he looked toward her. "Yeah. Something like that," he answered.

"Great," she said. "Just so you guys know, Ray and Zari say they'll need a day to finish repairs on the ship. Barry, do you mind if we stay parked here? We'll be cloaked, so it shouldn't freak any locals out."

Barry chuckled. "Honestly, I don't think even seeing the Waverider would freak the people of Central City out. Weird stuff happens here a lot. But, yeah, go ahead."

"Thanks," she said. She then looked to Leonard. "You might have noticed, but the team's a bit bigger than when you left. We've already got the newbies sharing a room."

"So?" he asked.

"So, someone's going to have to let you stay in their room," Sara finished. "For now, at least. We might be able to find some extra space and convert it later, but tonight, you'll have to have a roommate." She reached to her side and patted Mick on the shoulder. "Mick volunteered to let you stay with him, but if you two can't do that without killing each other…"

Mick brushed her hand off. "I'm not going to kill Snart!"

"Still a little too soon for that," Leonard commented. "Like I said, I should get at least twenty-four hours. After that, sure, go ahead, kill me again."

Sara crossed her arms. "Leonard, stop reminding us you were basically dead. We all know. We were there."

Leonard backed off. "Fine, I'll take a break."

Sara gestured toward Mick. "Can you share a room with him without the world descending into chaos? Or should we find someone else willing to let you stay in their room?"

Leonard thought of a snarky comment about Sara's room, but thought better of it and decided against saying it, especially with Barry Allen observing him so closely. "No, I can stay with Mick."

"Perfect," Sara said, the smile returning to her face. "Then everything's good."

"And we didn't even screw up the timeline," Mick observed.

"That's right," Sara laughed. "Just an easily cured case of time pirates. We really got lucky this time, didn't we?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Wait, how often do you guys screw up the timeline?"

Mick and Sara looked at each other awkwardly. "Let's…save that conversation for tomorrow," Sara suggested. "Tonight, let's just celebrate. Okay?"

Leonard took a step away from the wall and closer to her, turning his head so she could see his face and Barry couldn't. He smiled. "Okay, Sara."

* * *

At the Time Bureau, lights started blinking all over the large timeline map projection. Loud beeping sounds could be heard throughout the building. Agents rushed from monitor to monitor, trying to track what was happening. Gary Green stood in the center of it all, look up at the projection, bewildered.

"I…I've never seen anything like this before," he stammered. "Where's Director Sharpe?"

Ava Sharpe burst through the door behind him. "Gary," she said as she walked briskly up from behind him, "why am I being called here? I told you I had that meeting about Heyworld. For the record, it is beyond me why that place is still under Time Bureau jurisdiction."

Gary pointed up at the main monitor. "The timeline," he explained. "Look at it!"

Ava looked up and gasped. "When did this start?"

"The first alert was a few hours ago," Gary told her, "but they've been increasing exponentially since then. It looks like something messed with the fabric of time itself."

Ava took a step closer to the projection, studying it. "Well, whatever happened, we've got a ton of irregularities. Are any agents on this?"

"All that we could spare," Gary answered, "but there are so many to fix. We're still pretty short staffed these days."

Ava sighed exasperatedly. "I know, Gary." She turned around to face him again. "Last year, we could have handled this, but I'm still rebuilding this place. We just don't have the resources for something of this magnitude." She hesitated, then added with visible reluctance, "We're going to need help."

"What are you saying?" he asked, his eyes wide. "Are you…are you going to call the Legends?"

Ava frowned. "Get reports on my desk of every irregularity you've identified so far, preferably in chronological order." She started to walk toward the exit.

"Director Sharpe!" he called after her. "Are you going to call the Legends?"

She walked out the door without answering.

Gary turned around to look at the timeline projection again with its growing mass of irregularity alerts. "She's definitely going to call the Legends," he said to himself. "Awkward."


	12. Margin of Error

Nora heard a buzzing sound as she lay in her bed, eyes shut. _Ugh, who let a bug into a time ship?_ she thought, pulling the covers over her ears. Across the room, Mona remained sound asleep. The buzz came again, louder this time. Nora sat up and looked around groggily. _Where is that coming from?_

She turned her head to see the screen on the wall closest to her. It displayed text reading, "Incoming call from Gary Green."

Nora groaned, "You've got to be kidding me."

The screen buzzed again. She glanced over at Mona, still sleeping, and whispered, "Gideon, I'll take it in the library." She rolled out of bed and threw on one of Ray's sweatshirts that had been left in her closet, then silently slipped out of her room.

"Gary," she said once she reached the library, "why are you waking me up? It's five in the morning and, as Ray mentioned before, we're on vacation."

Gary Green appeared on the library's screen. "Hi, Nora!" he greeted her. "Is it really that early? What time zone is Central City in?"

Nora sank down into the nearest chair, wishing it was her bed. "It's called Google. Use it."

Gary looked curiously at her clothes. "Are those puppies?"

Nora looked down at her sweatpants. There were, in fact, puppies on them. "Yeah."

"Aw," he cooed, "that's adorable."

"What do you want, Gary?" she asked. "I'm this close to going back to sleep." She held up her hand with barely any space between her thumb and index finger. "This. Close."

Gary looked over his shoulder, then answered, "Well, Nora, since we're friends, I thought it would only be fair to warn you about something."

"Warn me about what?"

"There's something wrong with the timeline," he explained. "Something big. The thing is," he leaned in closer to the camera, "Director Sharpe doesn't think the Time Bureau is ready to handle it, and she's right. That means she's going to look for help from somewhere else, like…the Legends."

Nora sat up, giving him more attention. "I didn't realize Ava and Sara were speaking," she said.

"They're not. At least, they haven't spoken since…you know, the breakup." He looked over his shoulder again, then continued, "Look, Nora, I don't know when she's going to call or what she's going to say but putting Captain Lance and Director Sharpe together right now for any reason could get messy. You should probably warn her ahead of time, just so she isn't caught off guard. That might make it easier, but even then, it still might be ugly."

"Fine," she agreed, "I'll do that. But next time you have news, could you please not call when it's sleep o'clock?"

Gary grinned. "Anything for my best friend."

"Stop that," she immediately corrected him. "I said we were friends. I never said anything about 'best.'"

Gary noticed the logo on her sweatshirt. "Wait, you didn't go to Ivy University…oh wait, is that Ray's sweatshirt?"

Nora glared at him for a moment before responding grumpily, "Yes."

"That's adorable," he said. "I am shipping you two so hard. Your relationship is so wholesome…"

"Goodbye, Gary."

"What? Why? I'm not…"

"Gideon!"

Gideon obediently hung up the call, returning the screen to black. Nora slumped back in her seat, exhausted. She thought about what Gary had said and had a sinking feeling. It had seemed almost too easy to pull Snart out of the timeline. Nora couldn't say for sure that the Legends were responsible for the irregularities, but if it turned out they were, then the ensuing conversation between Sara and Ava could get even messier than Gary expected. "Well, this won't be fun," Nora muttered to herself.

* * *

Sara strolled into the kitchen, mulling over the possibilities of Gideon's breakfast options. She was surprised to see a steaming cup of coffee and a plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast already sitting in front of her usual place at the table. "Uh…hello?" she said, staring at it confusedly.

"Oh Captain, my Captain," Leonard's familiar drawl greeted her as he walked over from the far end of the room, a glass of very cold iced coffee in his hands.

Sara smiled, pleasantly surprised. "You're up early. I thought you'd be tired after yesterday."

Leonard smirked. "I can sleep when I'm dead."

Sara rolled her eyes. "And here I thought you were taking a break from the death jokes."

"I was, but that one was too obvious not to say." He pulled out the chair next to hers and leaned back, propping his feet up against the edge of the table. He took a sip out of his drink, set it down on the table, and motioned to the plate of food. "You hungry?"

Sara walked over to the table but didn't sit down yet. She placed her hands on her hips and studied Leonard's face. "You…made me breakfast?"

"Technically, Gideon did," Leonard clarified. "I mostly just pushed buttons."

Sara pulled out her chair and sat down, still analyzing him. "Any particular reason why?"

He shrugged. "Consider it a thank you."

"For what?"

"A few things."

"Which are…?"

"Well, getting me out of wherever I was, for one thing. You saved my life. Do I really need to spell that out?"

Sara shook her head. "That was the whole team, not just me. They figured out the plan. I just did my part."

"True," he allowed, "but it was an important part." He recalled hearing her voice in his head moments before breaking out of the timeline. "I'm fairly certain that without you 'doing your part,' I wouldn't have made it out. Plus, you're in charge now, so even if it wasn't your plan, I assume you had the final say." He paused before adding another reason, "Then, there's keeping Mick alive for three years without me to look out for him. I know that takes a miracle."

She laughed, "Okay, I'll give you that one."

He continued his list, "Also, keeping all my stuff safe. Three whole years and most of it's still here. That makes the transition to being alive again a whole lot easier. Then, there's the fact that you didn't…" he looked up at her face and hesitated for a moment before completing his sentence, "…forget about me."

"What?" Sara reacted incredulously. "Leonard, why would I forget about you?"

"Oh, I don't know," he said, looking away. "Three years is a long time. You've lost plenty more people than just me. You've got more responsibilities now. A lot of things around here seem different. The team is almost completely different." He looked back up at her, attempting to hide his emotions under a very thin veil of sarcasm. "Now, I know I make a memorable first impression, but I don't think anyone could blame you if you'd given up on remembering me after everything you've been through. But you didn't, and I'm glad you didn't." He gestured toward her plate with his hand. "Eat your breakfast, Sara."

She gave in and took a bite of her eggs. "Gideon did a good job," she observed as she chewed.

"Yeah, she usually does." He paused, thinking of what to say next. He had one more thing to thank her for, and he knew it was the one that mattered to him the most. He just didn't know how to put it into words, let alone say those words out loud. How could he tell her that the last memory she'd left him had been the thought that comforted him through the pain of the Oculus explosion? How could he explain that the thoughts he'd assumed were his last had been of her? _Just like Barry said_, he thought. _Why does he have to be right?_

"Hey, Leonard," Sara said, breaking his train of thought, "I know you said you still have most of your stuff, but there's actually something I need to give back to you. Or, two things, really."

Leonard removed his boots from the table and sat up in his chair, raising his eyebrows curiously. "What two things?"

She reached into her pocket and pulled out his card deck. She hadn't planned on seeing him this early in the morning, but she'd taken the deck with her anyway with the intention of giving it to him at the first opportunity. She slid them along the table toward him. "Remember these?"

He picked up the small box, smiling as fond memories of their games surfaced in his mind. "How could I forget?" He opened it and took out the deck, running his thumb over the cards' edges. He cut it in half and shuffled it smoothly, then set it aside. "Are you sick of playing gin by now, or can I interest you in a game later?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I'm not sick of it. I've barely played since you…left." She still wasn't entirely sure how to describe his not quite death.

He looked up at her curiously. "But you still kept them," he said softly. He quickly returned to his normal snarky demeanor. "Good. It'll be that much easier to beat you."

"Yeah, good luck with that," she returned dryly. She took a sip of her coffee, then reached into a different pocket. "There's something else of yours, too. I know you gave it to Mick, but he…um…he wanted me to hold onto it."

She pulled something small out of her pocket, concealing it in her fist. She set it down on the table in the space between them and removed her hand. It was a silver ring.

Leonard recognized it immediately. He leaned in toward the table, looking closely at it, but didn't pick it up. It was his ring, the one he'd stolen on his first job with Mick. He'd shown it to her and explained its backstory only hours before the Oculus's destruction. His gaze rose from the ring on the table to Sara's face. "Mick…you said he gave you this?" he asked, his voice much more solemn than usual.

"He did," she replied, nodding in confirmation. "He kept it for a while at first, but eventually he gave it to me. I didn't ask him for it, he just…did." She felt a lump in her throat as she tried to push down the memory of how she'd felt in the days after Leonard's sacrifice. "He thought it was what you would've wanted. He said you would have liked for me to keep some piece of you. I already had the cards, of course, but he thought it should be a little more…personal." She tilted her head slightly sideways. "Was he wrong?"

"No," Leonard replied instantly. Sara was surprised by his sudden response. He continued after a brief pause, "That is exactly what I wanted. I just…I wasn't sure if he understood that."

Sara pushed the ring toward him with her finger. "Well, now you can have it back."

Leonard shook his head. "It's yours, Sara. Mick gave it to you," he insisted.

"Mick wanted me to have a piece of you because you were gone," Sara argued. "You're not gone anymore. Why would I need a piece when the whole thing is right here with me?"

As happy as the mental image of Sara wearing his ring made him feel, he couldn't really argue with that logic. He picked up the ring and slid it into its normal place on his pinky. He waved his fingers as if showing it off. "Still fits," he joked, laying his hand palm up on the table so she could see it.

"So it does," Sara observed. Without thinking, she reached out and touched it the same way she had when he'd first told her the story behind it. She felt chills. She'd touched him several times since he'd come back, but the fact that she could was still a shock. Instead of moving her fingers away, she let them rest in his hands a little longer. She felt him relax under her touch and felt honored, knowing he wouldn't do that with most people. "I…um…" she looked up at his eyes as she finally pulled her hand away, "I'm sorry, it's just…weird that you're really here. I'm glad you are, but it's still hard to believe this is all real."

"Believe me," Leonard assured her, "no one's finding this harder to believe than I am."

Sara looked away, laughing. "Yeah, that makes sense." She leaned back in her chair and added, "Honestly, part of me thought I'd imagined the whole thing and that I'd wake up and find out you were never here, like it was a dream or something. Silly, right?"

He placed his elbows on the table, leaning closer toward her. "Well, as much as I'd love to be the subject of your dreams," he teased, "I'm here, I'm real, and I'm alive."

The two of them locked eyes for a silent moment. Sara quickly thought of an excuse to look away. "I'd better eat this soon," she said, redirecting her attention entirely to the plate of breakfast food in front of her. "I'd hate for your and Gideon's efforts to get cold." She took a bite of the toast. "Seriously, thanks for doing this."

Leonard leaned back in his chair, putting his boots against the table again. "Don't mention it."

Just then, Ray entered the kitchen. Sara couldn't decide if having another person in the room with her and Leonard was a relief or a disappointment. "Good morning, Captain," he said, grinning. "It's a lovely day, isn't it? Oh," he stopped, surprised to see Leonard sitting beside her, "hi, Snart."

"Hello, Raymond," Leonard replied.

Ray frowned. "Um…Snart? Would you mind not putting your feet on the table? I just cleaned it yesterday."

Leonard smirked. Raymond was almost as fun to mess with as Barry. "Where else would I put them?"

"The floor," Ray suggested.

Leonard shrugged. "Can't do that."

Ray eyed him carefully, genuinely concerned. "Why? Did you get injured when we pulled you out?"

"No," the thief answered.

"Then why?" Ray asked, puzzled.

"Because I don't want to."

Sara looked between the two men as she drank her coffee. While she was still debating whether she was relieved or disappointed to no longer be alone with Leonard, she definitely knew she was entertained. She continued to eat quietly, observing their interactions.

Ray appeared to be frustrated for a second, then relaxed. "You know what?" he said decisively. "I'll let it slide. I'm sure you're still getting used to being back. It's only fair to give you a grace period on all the rules."

Leonard raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Rules?"

"Yeah," Ray confirmed as he opened the refrigerator to search for his favorite organic butter. "We don't have too many, but they're still pretty important."

"Raymond, you may have forgotten after all this time, but let me remind you that rules and I don't really mix."

Ray nodded, "Oh, I remember, Snart. But sometimes, we need rules to stay safe. We deal with the fate of the universe on a daily basis. Can't be too careful, right?"

"I fail to see how putting my feet on the table endangers the fate of the universe."

Ray closed the refrigerator door and began making his coffee. "It doesn't. But hey, you never know. Maybe it will someday. I mean, plenty of weird things have happened to the universe recently."

"So I've heard."

Ray stirred his coffee as he sat down to join them. "Have you ever tried using organic, grass-fed butter in your coffee?" he asked Leonard. "It's really good, and much healthier for you than…"

"I like my coffee unhealthy, thanks," Leonard cut him off.

Ray looked at him with obvious disapproval. "But your health is so important…"

"Why?" Leonard asked with a sideways glance at Sara. "What am I going to do? Die?"

Sara pointed her fork at him as a warning. "Last death joke of the day. That's an order."

Ray tried very hard not to react. "Snart, I…never mind." He took a breath, then changed the subject. "Hey, speaking of weird things in the universe, Nate and I had this idea…"

Leonard turned to Sara. "That's the steel guy, right?"

She nodded, her mouth too full to give a verbal response.

"Got it." He turned back to the man seated across from him. "Continue, Raymond."

"Well, Nate and I had this idea to catch you up on everything you've missed," Ray explained. "Because seriously, you've missed a lot. I have to work on fixing the ship with Zari, but Nate said he'd get the rest of the team to help."

Leonard smirked amusedly. "Raymond, I'm touched by your concern, but I don't think I need…"

"Actually, it doesn't sound like a bad idea," Sara interjected.

Leonard turned toward her, stunned. "What? Why?"

She shrugged. "He's right. You've missed a lot. It wouldn't matter as much if you were totally new, but you're used to a very different team with a very different mission. There's a lot of stuff you need to know."

"Exactly," Ray agreed. "So, what we were thinking was…"

Before he could explain his idea further, Nora stuck her head into the doorway of the kitchen, now dressed in her typical dark attire. She spotted Sara. "Um, Captain?" she said. "Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, of course," Sara replied. She finished the last of her breakfast in a couple bites, then stood up. "Just give me a second." She walked across the room and placed her dishes in the sink. Turning around to face Leonard and Ray, she gave them a lighthearted warning, "You two better behave yourselves while I'm gone." She then followed Nora out the door.

The two women made their way through the corridors and into the parlor. "What did you want to talk about, Nora?" Sara asked.

Nora cut straight to the point. "Gary called me."

"Ah yes, Gary," Sara replied. "You two are what now, best friends?"

"No," Nora corrected her, "we're just normal friends. But that's not important."

"Okay, then." Sara folded her arms and leaned back against her desk. "What did Gary say?"

Nora took a step closer to her captain. "There's a problem with the timeline." Sara blinked. She only now realized that she hadn't checked the timeline since Leonard's arrival. It was understandable, given how many different things had been going on, but still surprising. Nora continued to explain, "Gary says there are widespread irregularities. It's bad. The Time Bureau can't deal with it all right now," she watched Sara's face carefully for a reaction, "so Ava's going to have to call you and ask for the Legends' help."

Sara tensed. "Ava's…calling…the Legends," she summarized, processing the situation slowly.

"Yeah. That's happening."

Sara took a deep breath, trying to act as unaffected as possible. "That's…fine. That's perfectly fine. We're professional adults. Nothing to worry about. But it was nice of you let me know, so thanks."

"Are you really sure about that?" her teammate pressed.

"Nora, I can handle talking to people I have formerly been in relationships with. I talk to Ollie all the time."

"True," Nora allowed, "but I think we both know your relationship with Oliver Queen wasn't the same as your relationship with Ava. Also, the wound is a lot fresher."

Sara waved her hand dismissively. "Seriously, Nora, there is no wound. We can handle a professional conversation. Don't worry about it."

Nora still didn't completely believe Sara's assurances, but she moved on to the next issue instead of arguing. "It's not just that Ava's calling," she said. "I mean, that's what Gary warned me about. But there's another thing that he doesn't know."

"And what's that?"

"Gary said the irregularities looked like they were caused by something messing with the fabric of time itself," Nora told her.

Sara's eyes widened as she understood. "Snart."

Nora nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

"Crap."

"Yeah." She hurriedly added, "I mean, it could just as easily be something else. The Time Bureau doesn't know what caused it, so there's no real proof that we did it. But…"

"We probably did it," Sara finished for her.

Nora shifted her feet uncomfortably. "Gideon did say there was a ten percent margin of error."

Sara looked up. "Gideon?"

"As I said previously, Captain," the A.I. disembodied voice answered, "I did warn you that a risk was involved."

Sara sighed and shook her head. "Okay, so we messed with the fabric of time. Wouldn't be our first time doing that. Probably won't be our last. Snart is a friend and a teammate. I knew the risk, I made the call, and I don't regret it."

"That's all lovely," Nora said, "but are you going to tell that to Ava?"

The screen in the parlor buzzed, displaying text reading, "Incoming call from Ava Sharpe."

Sara and Nora exchanged looks.

"I can handle it," Sara assured her. "Pick up, Gideon."

The screen transitioned into a view of Director Ava Sharpe, seated at her desk in her Time Bureau office. She stared straight forward into the room, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "Captain Lance," she said coldly, "is this a good time?"

Sara noted the use of her professional title and returned the gesture. "Yes, Director Sharpe, it is."

"Good." Ava noticed Nora in the background of the room. "Nora, good to see you again."

"You too," she replied.

Ava returned her focus to Sara. "Captain Lance," she continued stiffly, "we've noticed a rapid increase in irregularities in the timeline within the past twenty-four hours. With the Time Bureau in the state that it is, we don't have the resources to chase after all of them."

"Let me guess: you need the Legends?"

"Yes. That is correct." She paused, then added, "Captain Lance, I don't mean to sound unprofessional, but you know I wouldn't be asking for this if it wasn't an emergency."

Sara nodded, making a conscious effort to remain at least outwardly emotionless. "I know."

"Good. Since you understand that, I'd like you to come to my office to discuss this further."

Sara balked. "Your…office? Why?"

Ava picked up a stack of papers from her desk and held them so the camera could see. Sara couldn't see their contents, but she could tell it was a thick stack. "As you can see, there's a lot to go over," she said. "We've seen similar things before, but nothing exactly like this. The research is ongoing, but our agents are saying that it appears some serious manipulation has occurred in the fabric of time itself."

"Huh," Sara responded, not taking her eyes off the screen. "And, uh, do you have any idea who…or what…could have caused that?"

Ava groaned frustratedly. "No. We have absolutely no clue."

"Ah." Sara shared a quick glance with Nora before looking back at Ava's face. "Interesting."

"We'll figure it out, Captain Lance," Ava replied, "but that's not your concern. Meet me in my office in one hour and we'll discuss your mission. That is all." She pressed a button on her computer and hung up the call, turning the parlor's screen dark.

Sara continued to stare at the empty screen. Nora tried to offer something positive. "Hey," she pointed out, "at least she doesn't think it was us."

Sara turned around to face Nora. "She'll find out eventually. Ava's not an idiot." She looked down at the floor, thinking. _This is the last thing I need_, she thought. _Ava's going to think I couldn't last five seconds without her before screwing things up. I can't let her think that._ Suddenly, she looked up again as an idea occurred to her. "Which is why we need to fix this problem before she knows it was us," she declared. "If we clean up all the irregularities, there won't be a problem to blame us for. All's well that ends well, right?"

"Um…yeah," Nora said, very unconvinced. "Sure. But what about you? Are you really okay with meeting Ava in person?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Didn't you just see me handle that call without any issues? I'm fine."

Nora tilted her head, regarding her skeptically. "Captain, you may have handled the call, but I've never seen either of you this tense before. If you're not ready…"

"Of course I'm ready," Sara insisted as if responding to an insult. "There's nothing to be ready for. We are coworkers. We are going to talk about our work. And then, I am going to leave. That's it. Gideon, prepare the jump ship." She moved toward the exit, but Nora stepped in her way. "What?"

"I know this really isn't my place," Nora explained, "but I'm Ava's friend, too. She gave me a second chance at the Time Bureau and we're still on good terms. I think it might be easier if you have a neutral presence with you. And I mean that for both you and Ava."

"Are you saying you want to come with me?"

"Yes, I am."

Sara smiled proudly. "You're really taking this team player thing seriously, aren't you?"

Nora looked away awkwardly, though she appreciated the recognition. "Just trying to help, Captain."

"Well, thank you for that. To be clear, I'm still sure it's unnecessary. Ava and I can handle a single conversation without starting World War Three. But, if it makes you feel better, you can tag along."

"Then I will," Nora replied, stepping out of Sara's way. "Lead the way, Captain."

* * *

Nate and Ray stood in the library, grinning cheerfully at their audience. This audience consisted of Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, who were seated on two chairs that had been pulled into the center of the room, facing the library's main screen. It displayed a colorful image of the current Legends team with the caption, "Welcome to the Legends of Tomorrow, Today." Zari, Charlie, Mona, and John stood in various positions along the front and sides of the room.

"Okay," Ray began, "now that everyone's here, we can get started."

"On what?" Snart asked, looking up at the screen with visible confusion.

"Captain Lance has a meeting away from the ship," Nate explained, "so while she's gone, we're going to take the opportunity to show you," he pointed at Leonard energetically, "what you need to know."

Leonard tried very hard not to roll his eyes. He still didn't think this was necessary, but, as Sara had pointed out, the new Legends had saved his life. He had to admit that he owed them one. If they wanted a few minutes of his time, so be it. "And you're doing that with a slideshow lecture?" he asked. "I don't remember going back to high school."

"It seemed like the most effective option," Nate explained. "This way, we can condense a lot of information into a short time. Plus, there are plenty of fun, visually appealing graphics."

"Ooh, I love visually appealing graphics," Ray commented.

"Me too, buddy," Nate said, giving his Time Bro a high five.

_Oy, there are two of them_, Leonard thought. He turned to Mick, who was sitting in the chair beside him. "And why are you watching this with me?"

"Moral support," Mick grunted.

"Cute." Leonard slouched back in his seat and crossed his arms. "All right, let's get this over with."

"Great!" Ray smiled approvingly. "Nate, he's all yours. Come on, Z. Time to get our ship-fixing on!"

Zari shook her head. "You couldn't just say something normal," she muttered as she followed him out.

Once they were gone, Nate began his presentation. "Welcome to the Legends of Tomorrow, Today," he said enthusiastically. "We are an elite team of…"

John snorted. "Elite?"

Nate glared at him, then corrected himself. "We are a team of heroes…"

"Ha!" Mick scoffed.

Nate groaned. "Guys, come on. Can we just get through this?" He took a deep breath, then restarted, "Welcome to the Legends of Tomorrow, Today. We are a team of people…"

"People?" Charlie interrupted. "Are we defining people as human beings only, or is it a broader term?"

Nate rolled his eyes. "Yes, Charlie, I'm using it broadly. Shapeshifters count as people."

"Ah," she said, accepting his explanation. "Carry on, then."

Mona raised her hand silently. Nate called on her, barely hiding his frustration. "What, Mona?"

"Does that broad term also include Wolfie?" she asked.

Nate really just wanted to move on to the next slide. He sighed, "Sure, why not?"

"Good," she said, smiling with relief. "I had this whole talk with Dr. Snow…I mean, Caitlin. She said she's trying to listen more to what Killer Frost wants. I know Wolfie isn't the exact same type of thing, but I'm sure she'd hate to be left out completely…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Nate said, returning to the presentation. "Wolfie counts. Charlie counts. Everybody counts. Where was I?" He looked at the screen, then at Leonard, beginning his introduction for the fourth time, "Welcome to the Legends of Tomorrow, Today. We are a team of people, including non-humans, whose mission is to protect the timeline from harm." He paused, looking around at his teammates. "Any objections to that, or can I go on?"

John spoke for the group, "You're fine, love."

"Okay. Gideon, next slide." The screen transitioned into a slide with an image of Rip Hunter in his formal Time Bureau attire. "Part one," Nate said, "Rip Hunter, our first captain and founder of the Time Bureau."

"I already know about Rip, Nathaniel," Leonard reminded him.

Nate chose to ignore Leonard's use of his full name, as strange as it was. "You know about the Legends' first mission with Rip," he explained, "but you don't know what Rip created after that. Next slide, please." The screen revealed a picture of the Time Bureau's original headquarters in D.C. "After a situation that resulted in time being broken," he said, consciously being very careful not to mention the specifics of what that situation had been, "Rip officially left the Waverider under Sara's leadership and created an agency called the Time Bureau."

"Sounds like the Time Masters," Leonard remarked, frowning.

"No," Nate argued. "Not like the Time Masters. The Time Bureau is totally different. Their mission is to prevent the timeline from being manipulated or corrupted."

"Still sounds like the Time Masters," Leonard reiterated.

Nate held up his hand. "It's not. They're the good guys."

"Which is what the Time Masters said they were."

"But they actually are the good guys, Snart," Nate insisted. "The Time Bureau monitors the timeline for threats and has agents who chase them down before history can be damaged. They are a government-funded agency dedicated to saving the universe from the chaos of time irregularities. When something is out of place in the timeline, they send their agents in to fix it."

Leonard wasn't convinced. "So…the Time Masters with more bureaucracy?"

"No, that's not…you know what? We're moving on. Next slide." He leaned forward toward Leonard as the screen transitioned again. "And pay attention, because there will be a quiz at the end."

"How wonderful," Snart muttered under his breath.

* * *

Sara and Nora walked briskly through the Time Bureau's hallway. Neither of them had been inside since Ava had started rebuilding the agency. Everything seemed shiny and new. It was also a lot less crowded than they remembered. Still, the general layout looked mostly the same. Gary popped out of a side room and into the middle of their path.

"Captain Lance!" he exclaimed, clearly surprised to see her. "Did Director Sharpe ask to meet with you in person?"

"She did," Sara replied.

"Oh…um…that's…great." He rubbed his hands together anxiously, then looked at Nora. "And you're here for…?"

"Damage control," she answered.

"Not that we'll need it," Sara quickly added.

Gary nodded slowly. "I see." He stepped aside and waved them through. "Well, if Director Sharpe needs you…but not like that!" he quickly corrected himself. He fell into step with them, walking beside Nora as they headed toward Ava's office. "I mean, if she needs you for…work…things. The only things she would need you for. Because you do work together. And nothing else."

"Gary," Sara said, "can you not talk right now?"

"Heh…yeah." They reached the door of Ava's office. Gary opened it for them, letting Sara walk in first. He gave Nora a knowing glance as she walked through, then shut the door behind them.

Ava noticed them as they entered and stood up from behind her desk. "Captain Lance, Nora, thank you for coming in," she greeted them, her tone very professional. "Please take a seat."

There were two extra chairs against the wall to their right. Sara and Nora dragged them over and sat down in front of Ava's desk. Ava once again sat down. "Like I said, there's a lot to go over," she said curtly. She shuffled through the stack of papers on her desk, searching then passed several sheets of it to Sara, avoiding making direct eye contact with her as she did so. "This is what we're dealing with."

Sara read the description on the top page, then skimmed through each of the following ones. Nora peered at them over her shoulder. "Holes in time," Sara noted.

"The agents are calling them rifts," Ava explained. "They've been popping up everywhere. The best way to describe it is like a tapestry where someone pulled a thread out, and now the rest of it is stretching out of shape."

"How poetic," Nora commented, hoping Ava wouldn't notice her or Sara's uneasiness.

Ava revealed a tiny smile, the only hint of emotion she'd shown since they arrived. "Gary came up with it. You know how he lives for the drama." She quickly returned to being stoic. "The problem with the rifts is that it's a two-step situation. You can't just close them. You have to find the anachronisms that got through, too."

"Do the anachronisms have any patterns?" Sara asked.

"None that we've determined," Ava answered. "Anything that exists at any point in time can fall through a rift and land in any other point in time. And if a rift stays open for too long, then more than one anachronism can get through. That's why we need to be extra alert. Those reports are all the ones we've found so far, but there are new ones every hour."

"So," Sara surmised, "you want the Legends to find these rifts, close them, and fix the anachronisms they released."

"Exactly," Ava nodded curtly. "Do you think your team can handle that, Captain Lance?"

Sara stiffened. "Handle it? Director Sharpe, my team has handled demons, monsters, and dictators. I think we can take care of a few rifts."

Ava frowned. "It's not just a few rifts. It's a lot of rifts. I need to make sure you're…" she froze, not finishing the sentence. "Oh, forget it."

Sara narrowed her eyes. "Make sure I'm what?"

"Oh no," Nora breathed, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Nothing," Ava quickly said. "You have your assignment. Please read through the information I gave you thoroughly. That'll be all."

"No," Sara pressed, "what were you going to say, Director Sharpe? I want to know."

"Do you, though?" Nora squeaked.

Ava turned her head, locking eyes with Sara. "Make sure you're taking this seriously."

Nora cringed. "Hey," she said quietly to Sara, "maybe we should…"

Sara ignored Nora. She stared Ava down coldly. "Taking this seriously? I don't know why you'd expect me to do that, since you said I don't take _anything_ seriously."

Ava scooted forward in her chair, not breaking eye contact. "Which is why I hope you will this time, Captain Lance. The universe will still go on without our relationship, but it won't without the timeline being intact. Maybe having higher stakes will motivate you."

"Uh-huh. Yeah. Maybe." Sara stood up. "Or, maybe, you just can't understand that my way of taking things seriously is different from yours."

"Guys," Nora interjected, her voice louder than before but still very calm, "this topic obviously touched a nerve. Let's just take a second to breathe, okay?"

"Different?" Ava retorted, her face beginning to show signs of frustration. "Is that why you kept putting off anything that would make our relationship progress? Or why you always preferred running off on the Waverider over spending any significant amount of time in the present with me?"

Sara leaned forward, placing her palms on Ava's desk. "Oh, so two whole weeks isn't significant enough?"

"You only did that once," Ava returned, "and it was after I asked you a hundred times. And don't say it was only because of missions, because I know there were times when it wasn't."

"The Waverider is my home," Sara insisted.

"What about _our_ home?" Ava asked. She stood up and leaned down over her desk, mimicking Sara's posture. "I asked you to move in with me, you said yes, and then you were never there."

"You're the one who kept trying to force me into your perfect little box," Sara argued. "I'm a time traveling former assassin who used to be dead. Why does it surprise you that I'm not normal?"

"I didn't want you to be normal, I just wanted our relationship to be!"

"Guys!" Nora shouted, standing up. "Seriously, I think you've said enough."

Ava ignored her and continued, "All I wanted was to move forward, but every time I brought up our future, you would freak out and say that if we start talking about what the future holds for us, it'll never happen. What does that even mean?"

"It…it's just true, okay?" Sara replied. "The future is always in flux. You know that. That's literally part of your job."

"Don't tell me what my job is."

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you the only one allowed to be in charge?"

Nora sighed. "All right, that's it." She stepped forward and slammed her fist onto Ava's desk, creating a blast of blindingly bright, purple-tinted light. Both Sara and Ava fell silent and stumbled back a few steps away from each other. Once Nora's light faded, she stepped forward into the space between them. "We're all on the same side here, okay? I know you guys still have some hard feelings, but that doesn't change the fact that the timeline needs to be fixed, and it looks like it'll take both the Legends and the Time Bureau to do it. Can we all agree on that?"

Sara and Ava looked at each other sheepishly.

"Nora's right," Ava admitted.

"Yeah," Sara agreed halfheartedly. "I'm sorry. I didn't come in here to fight."

"Me neither," Ava said. "This is just…hard, I guess. Harder than I expected."

"Agreed." Sara turned to look at Nora. "Thank you, Nora."

"You're welcome," Nora said, relieved that the situation had finally deescalated.

Sara glanced down at the stack of papers in her hands. "I'll read these," she told Ava, "and I'll get to work on locating and identifying the rifts. The Legends have the Time Bureau's back, as usual."

"Good," Ava said. "I appreciate that, Captain Lance."

"Of course, Director Sharpe."

As Sara and Nora exited Ava's office, Nora spotted Gary with his ear against the wall. She stepped aside and caught his attention while Sara continued ahead. "Living for the drama, are you?" she asked.

He quickly stepped away from the wall with an awkward look, knowing he'd been caught. "Heh…looks like we'll be working together again. Fun, right?"

Nora crossed her arms and glared at him with a look reminiscent of her days as a supervillain. "Gary…"

He tried to change the subject. "So…Book Club?"

She facepalmed, then turned and walked away, not acknowledging his question.

"Got it," he said, now only speaking to himself. "We'll…uh…figure it out later."


	13. A Tale of Two Card Games

"Leonard Snart," Nate said, looking down disappointedly over the top of the paper in his hands, "you have failed this quiz."

Leonard did not seem one bit concerned. "Oh no," he drawled. "Do I get held back?"

Nate set the paper down on the table. "Were you even paying attention? Did I add all those visually appealing graphics for nothing?" He paused, then asked, "Or was that the problem? Did I use too many, so it was distracting?"

"No," Mick answered before Leonard could, "your presentation just sucked."

"Hey!" Nate exclaimed, very obviously offended.

John jumped to his defense, "He's got a point, sweetheart. I barely followed it and I was present for half the things you mentioned."

Nate looked to Charlie and Mona. "You two thought it was good, right?"

"Eh," Mona said, waving her hand back and forth in a fifty-fifty motion.

"I did like the bit about Heyworld," Charlie said, "but otherwise…yeah, it was a bit rubbish."

Nate's shoulders slumped. "Seriously? That bad?"

"I wouldn't say bad," Mona clarified. "It was just…a lot, you know?"

"It's three years' worth of information," Nate replied. Technically, he had skimmed through much of his first year with the Legends in an effort to avoid bringing up the Legion of Doom, but he'd still included several more general points from that time, along with plenty of details from the following two years. "Of course it's a lot."

"If I may make a suggestion," Leonard said, breaking back into the conversation, "I'm not sure if throwing three years of trivia at my face is the best course of action."

Nate looked back down at Snart, who was still leaning back in his seat in the center of the room. By now, he had managed to shift around so that his feet were resting on top of the table in front of him, behind which Nate was standing. "And what," Nate asked patiently, "would a better course of action be, in your opinion?"

Leonard shrugged. "I don't know. I've always been a keen observer. Maybe you can just let me observe as I go."

Nate shook his head. "No way. The last time you were on the Waverider, you were still fighting Vandal Savage under Rip's orders. Too many things have changed since then for you to just jump back in."

Leonard smirked. "Nathaniel, if you think I was ever working 'under Rip's orders,' you really haven't learned anything about me."

"That's not the point," Nate insisted. "There has to be something else we can try." He began to pace back and forth across the front of the room, thinking hard.

As he did, Ray and Zari entered the library. "We made a lot of progress, so we're taking a break," Ray said, looking at his best friend. "How did it go?"

Nate stopped pacing and looked up at him. "Not great. We need another plan."

Ray nodded understandingly. "Okay. Team huddle!" He waved his hands, summoning his teammates closer to him. Nate, Charlie, Mona, and Constantine joined him and Zari near the door. Mick and Leonard stayed put. "You too, Mick!" Ray added. Mick reluctantly stood up and joined the group, leaving Leonard to watch from a short distance.

The teammates spoke in voices just low enough for Leonard not to understand what they were saying, although from the general tone, he could tell there was a lot of arguing going on in the huddle. After a few moments, Nate emerged from the group. "We have a Plan B," he announced.

* * *

The group that had previously been in the library sat around the kitchen table. Ray produced a long box and set it down in front of everyone. "I remember you were always into card games, Snart," he said, "which is why we're going to play a little game I invented called…Cards to Save the Timeline!" He rotated the box so the title was facing Leonard. "Looks fun, right?"

Leonard narrowed his eyes at the box skeptically. "Doesn't look like my kind of card game, Raymond."

"But it's a very fun game," Nate assured. "Mick, don't you think so?"

"Yeah," Mick admitted, "as long as no one shows favoritism." He threw a warning glance at Nate, then Zari.

"Okay," Zari said, "no favoritism. I've literally never done that, but thanks for the trust, Mick."

"You see, Snart," Nate continued, "we were thinking about what you said about the presentation, and you may have had a point."

"Shocker," Leonard deadpanned.

Nate ignored him and continued, "You don't have to have all the details right. You just need to understand the team dynamic and how we handle situations together. You know, the general stuff."

"Which brings us to Cards to Save the Timeline," Ray explained. "Every card in here is based on adventures we've had. We think that playing this game will help catch you up on the general vibe of the team. And, hopefully, it'll be a nice bonding experience."

"A nice bonding experience," Leonard repeated amusedly. "That's adorable."

"Thank you," Ray said cheerfully, taking it as a compliment. "Here's how you play: one player pulls out a card describing a sticky situation we've been in before. Then, everyone picks one card from their hand that describes a way we could address that situation, also based on things we've done before. Without knowing whose card is whose, the first player reads all the cards and decides which one they like the best. That person gets a point. Got that?"

Leonard nodded. "Yeah, I got it."

"Okay," Ray grinned, always excited for an excuse to play his game. "Then let's play, Legends!"

Before long, the cards were shuffled and sorted between the players. Ray passed the deck to Nate and he picked the top situation card from the stack. "First round," Nate said, flipping it over to read aloud, "'You have a mission in a present-day mental asylum, but while there, a spell sends you back to the same asylum fifty years earlier. What do you do?'"

Each Legend at the table peered carefully at their cards, then slid them toward Nate. He picked up the seven cards and flipped them all over. "What do you do?" he repeated as he glanced at the first card. "'Take a fairy godmother's wand and wish you and your friends out of trouble.'" He looked up at Ray. "That's a new one."

"Oh yeah," Ray explained, "I may have expanded the deck a bit based on our more recent adventures."

"Sweet," Nate said. "That'll make it even more interesting. Okay, next…" he looked at the second card, "…'Get drunk and find the nearest karaoke bar.'" He laughed. "Charlie, I think I know which card yours was."

"Can't prove it," she returned with an innocent smile.

He moved on to the next card. "'Join hands with your teammates to become a giant manifestation of a popular children's toy.' Hm…not sure if that applies to this situation, although I am always a sucker for Beebo. 'Steal an RV and go on a road trip to Disneyworld.' Tempting. 'Hook up with the nearest historically significant figure.' Really, Constantine?"

"What?" the Englishman asked. "Anyone could have put that."

"Yeah," Zari said, "but out of everyone here, you're the only one who would think a weird mental asylum is an appropriate place to hook up with someone."

Constantine held up his hands in surrender, careful not to show the contents of his cards. "All right, love, you caught me." He aimed a wink in Leonard's direction. "Not that I'd limit myself to mental asylums only."

Zari gagged. "Ugh, please just move on to the next card."

Nate read, "'Drink hallucinogenic tea and go on a vision quest.' Whoever put that in really knows me. And, last but not least, 'Steal a dragon egg and raise the baby dragon as your own.'" He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "This is hard, but I'm going to have to go with…the fairy godmother." He held the winning card aloft. "Most practical option, by far. Who put this one?"

Mona waved her hand. "That was me!" she exclaimed.

"Nice," Ray said. "One point for Mona."

Leonard stared blankly at the Time Bros as they passed the card Mona had just won to her. "So…fairy godmothers," he finally said. "That's a real thing."

"Yep," Ray replied. "There was this one fairy godmother we met named Tabitha. She was the worst. She turned me into pig, and then later tried to manipulate Gary – you haven't met him yet – into torturing us so her demon boyfriend could take over the world with an evil phone app while using my body. Also, she tricked Nora into taking the fairy godmother mantle from her, which accidentally sent her into Hell to rescue me. And then she got eaten by a dragon. Tabitha, I mean. Not Nora."

Leonard sat silently for a moment. "Raymond," he said, "you are once again not making any sense."

"Welcome to the Legends," Zari said sarcastically as she took the deck from her boyfriend, "where nothing makes sense." She pulled the top card off the deck. "Okay, here we go: 'Your friend is brainwashed by a villain and seriously injures a member of your team. What do you do?'"

"Yikes," Mona said, her eyes wide. "That's a dark one."

"Not if you pick a light enough answer," Ray pointed out.

"Thanks, Ray," Zari replied. "Now I'll know which one yours is."

The Legends searched through their cards. Leonard was the last to slide his toward Zari. She collected them all and flipped them over. "First one: 'Use a loophole in time to join an island of warrior women.' I feel like that was a throwaway card. 'Skip the crossover and dress up as the trinity instead.' 'Travel back in time to interfere with your own actions so you break time.' 'Use Gideon's futuristic technology to scan for brain damage.' Getting a little more relevant. 'Beat up some Nazis.' I mean, I'm always down to do that. 'Strand your friend away from the ship and come back for them when they're no longer dangerous.' Huh. Okay. And, finally, 'Hold each other close and remember that you are more than a team. You are a family.'" She looked the cards over, then selected one. "Last one wins."

"Yes!" Charlie celebrated, picking up the situation card she'd won. "That card's always a winner."

Leonard looked down at the floor, then up at Ray. "And where was this family attitude when you all wanted me to ice Mick, Boy Scout?" he asked him.

Ray froze. "Well…technically," he replied uncomfortably, "we didn't actually _ask_ you to do that."

"But you weren't mad about it," Leonard argued.

"Wait," Nate interjected, "what did you just say?" He turned to Leonard, shocked. "The Legends wanted you to kill Mick?"

"No," Ray quickly explained, "we had to get Mick off the ship because he was threatening us and our loved ones."

"And he burned Sara," Leonard added quietly.

Ray nodded. "That too."

Mona gasped. "Mick, you didn't!"

"I was having a rough week, okay?" Mick responded, barely looking up from his cards. "Wouldn't be the first time one of us took things too far."

Nate stared at Mick. "I thought you said you two were best friends."

"Best friend I ever had," Mick confirmed.

"Even after he tried to kill you?" Nate asked, still struggling to understand. "Best friends don't do that."

Mick shrugged. "He didn't kill me. He marooned me. Big difference."

"It's true," Leonard agreed. "I didn't kill him."

A memory flashed through Nate's mind of the fight against the Legion of Doom, with Snart putting an icicle through future Mick's chest. "Yeah…are you two sure you're okay?"

"Peachy," Leonard replied.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Mick asked. "He knocked me out, I betrayed him, he stranded me, I threatened to kill his sister, we punched each other a few times, and then we got over it. What's not okay about that?"

"Everything," Nate answered. "Literally everything is not okay about that."

Leonard shook his head disappointedly. "They just don't understand us, partner," he told Mick.

"Too bad," Mick replied. "They're missing out."

Nate wasn't ready to let go of the issue yet. "Just so we're clear," he said, "you two really are friends now, right? Neither of you have any desire to kill each other or each other's loved ones whatsoever."

"Of course not," Mick answered gruffly. "We're partners."

"Exactly," Leonard said. "Partners."

Nate decided to back off, despite still feeling bewildered. He knew he and Ray would never even consider marooning each other, let alone threatening or killing each other. Ray had gone so far as to allow himself to be possessed by Neron to prevent that from happening. Snart's and Mick's friendship seemed very strange to him. However, Nate hadn't been there in the mission against Vandal Savage. He didn't know how everything had unfolded. Maybe pushing the issue was unfair. "I mean, if it works, it works," he said, looking back down at his cards. "I'm not here to judge. But you guys might want to consider therapy. Just saying." He looked up at John, who was next around the table. "Your turn, Constantine."

John reached for the deck and flipped over the top card. "'You find yourself stuck in a time loop reliving the same day over and over. What do you do?'"

Nate snapped his fingers. "'Groundhog Day.' Classic!" He sorted through his cards for the perfect answer, though he involuntarily cast a quick, wary glance at Snart and Mick before choosing.

* * *

"Don't say 'I told you so,'" Sara grumbled from the pilot's seat of the jump ship. "I really don't need that right now."

Nora sat still in the seat closest to her. "I wasn't planning to, Captain."

"You'd be totally justified if you did," Sara clarified. "You'd be right. Just…please don't."

"Okay," Nora replied, "I won't." The two of them sat in silence for a while as Sara flew the jump ship. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Nora spoke again, "So…rifts?"

"What about them?" Sara asked, still fully focused on the controls in front of her.

"I'm just wondering what to expect," Nora replied. "It seems like whenever there's an issue with the timeline, it's something bigger than it appears."

"Do you know any demons trying to break free these days?" Sara joked. She fell silent, then asked, "I'm sorry, was that too far? I feel like it was too far."

"Oh, no! You're fine," Nora assured her. "That's all behind me."

Sara exhaled, relieved. "Good. I guess I'm just a little…on edge. And I know why," she quickly added, "so you don't need to tell me."

"I won't, then."

"Good."

Nora waited through another silent moment, then asked, "What about Snart?"

Sara froze for a second, though she kept her focus straight forward. "What about him?"

"We're about to go on a mission," Nora pointed out, "and it's not the one he signed up for in 2016. Do you think he'll stick around to help with it? I know he was on the team at the beginning, but it's not like he's obligated to stay after being gone for three years. Not that I mind!" she immediately clarified. "I actually kind of like the guy. It's just…I'm just wondering if he still wants to be a Legend after so many changes." She chuckled a little. "But hey, who am I to say? What do you and Constantine call me and Mona? The 'newbies'?"

Sara smiled. "Yeah, you're the newbies." She continued, "Nora, I've asked myself that question too. About Snart, I mean."

"And what do you think? You know him better than I do. Do you think he'll stay?"

Sara sighed. She wanted Leonard to stay. She wanted him to be by her side on their missions again. She'd missed him so badly for the past three years and felt so happy now just to be near him again. _But what if he only stays because he's expecting something from me?_ she asked herself. _After the way we left things, I'd understand if he did. But I'm not ready for that. Not this soon after Ava. I can't lead him on. But then, if I tell him that, will he leave?_ "I…I don't know, Nora. I just don't know."

* * *

"And that's a point for Mick," Ray said, passing a card across the table.

"Ha!" Mick exclaimed, claiming it. "Take that!"

Ray looked confused. "Mick, this is a bonding exercise. We're not actually competing."

"Yes, we are," John corrected him.

"I certainly am," Charlie commented.

"Same," Zari said.

"Ditto," Mona added.

Ray frowned. "Aw, come on, guys. This is supposed to be fun!"

"Competition can be fun," Zari replied. "Who's winning?"

Nate looked around at each player. "Mona, Charlie, and I each have one. Snart and Ray have two. Constantine and Mick are now tied for first with three."

"You're next, Englishman," Mick growled menacingly.

Ray raised an eyebrow. "Next for what?"

Mick blinked. He hadn't expected to be asked that. "For…uh…losing. Yeah, you're next for losing."

"I believe it's my turn to decide who's losing," Leonard drawled, reaching for the deck. He hated to admit it, but this game wasn't entirely irritating. Of course, he figured out early on that it was much more fun if he intentionally submitted all of his strangest, most messed up cards, just to see how the Legends would react to them. He flipped over the top card. "It says, 'A unicorn bites off your friend's nipple. He gets it back with the ability to use it to hypnotize people for evil purposes. What do you do?'" He paused and looked at the card again, not believing the words he'd just read. "Wait." He read it through again. "Wait a second." He read it through several more times. "What the…"

"I understand your confusion," Nate said calmly, "but I assure you, that really happened."

Leonard set the card down and stared at it. "That's…just…I got nothing. That's too weird." He looked around at the other Legends. "Guess it's up to you guys, huh? Hit me."

One by one, the Legends slid him their cards. He mixed them up, then flipped them over and began to read them, "'Move in next door to a murderous psychopath and pretend not to recognize him.' 'Bring someone back from the dead with the power of love and James Taylor.' 'Find J.R.R. Tolkien and ask him to help you interpret ancient texts.' Hold on." He stopped reading and looked up. "You guys met J.R.R. Tolkien without me?" he asked, emphasizing each letter of the author's initials.

Ray, Nate, and Mick exchanged glances. Their interaction with J.R.R. Tolkien had not been completely Snart-free, but they didn't need him to know that.

"I…uh…didn't take you for a Tolkien fan, Snart," Ray said, genuinely astonished.

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "He's most famous for writing about a piece of stolen jewelry," he returned. "Why wouldn't I be into that?"

"Well, stolen might be a strong word," Ray began to argue, "since technically, Isildur thought Sauron was destroyed when he claimed the Ring as his own, and then the Ring itself chose to abandon Isildur later, although I guess Bilbo did technically steal it even though he didn't fully understand its…"

"Raymond," Leonard interrupted him, "shut up."

"I thought you liked Tolkien," Ray replied.

"I do. Don't ruin it for me." He returned his attention to the cards. "Okay, what's left? 'Write a series of romance novels under a false name.' 'Dress up in period-appropriate attire and sneak into a party.' 'Lead a survival skills class while posing as summer camp counselors.' 'Convince an enemy to become a friend by showing them trust and kindness.'" His fingers hovered over the last one. "Trust and kindness," he said, the tiniest hint of a smile crossing his face.

"Brilliant," Charlie said, grabbing the situation card eagerly. "Two for Charlie!"

Ray regarded Leonard with an expression of surprise. "That's an unexpectedly nice choice, Snart."

Leonard passed the deck to Mick. "It was the only answer that would actually solve the problem," he argued. "How is posing as a camp counselor going to do anything about your friend's evil nipple?" He cringed, disgusted. _Did I just say, 'evil nipple'?_ he thought. _That is horrifying. Truly horrifying._

Sara stepped into the kitchen, followed by Nora. "So, this is what you've been up to," she observed, noticing the cards spread across the table and she walked closer to the rest of the Legends. "Who's winning?"

"I am," John and Mick said simultaneously.

"They're tied at three," Zari clarified.

"Well, I hate to interrupt a good game," Sara said, "but it looks like we have a new mission."

The Legends' heads all turned to face her.

"What sort of mission, love?" John asked.

"Remember that vortex the time pirates came out of?" Sara replied. "There are things like it all over the timeline. Most of them aren't accompanied by time storms, but they still exist. The Time Bureau is calling them rifts and they need our help dealing with them."

Ray grinned. "Does that mean I get to invent a device to help locate and close the rifts?" he asked excitedly.

"That would be great, Ray," Sara nodded. "Did you and Zari finish your repairs?"

"Almost," Zari answered.

"Try to finish by the end of the day," Sara ordered. "We need to be ready to time jump as soon as possible to get a head start on these rifts. Nate," she turned toward the historian, "your historical research skills will be needed. We've got a lot of anachronisms to detect in a lot of different time periods."

"You got it, Captain," Nate said. He addressed the group, "Legends, I suggest we press pause on this game until we're prepared for our next mission. All in favor?"

Mick groaned, "Right when I was about to win. Nice going."

"I kind of wanted to see Constantine and Mick battle it out, if I'm being honest," Charlie remarked.

"We can get back to it later," Nate insisted. "Let's just all remember our scores and pick up where we left off, okay?"

"I hate remembering stuff," Mick muttered.

"Okay?" Nate repeated himself to the rest of the team.

"Okay," several of them said in unison. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

They split off in different directions, each taking a role in preparing for the mission. Leonard, not having a specific role, moved to follow Mick. As he passed Sara, she tapped his shoulder lightly, stopping him. "Hey," she said, "can we talk?"

"Of course," Leonard replied. "Where?"

"Let's say my room," Sara suggested. "And…um…bring your cards. I might want to take you up on that gin offer. Unless you're sick of card games by now," she added, nodding toward the box of Cards to Save the Timeline, which still sat on top of the kitchen table.

He smiled. "I think I could play one more game."

"Perfect. Come with me."

* * *

Leonard noticed several changes when he stepped into Sara's room. It now had a lot more furniture, for one thing, and not the kind that looked like it belonged on a spaceship from the future. There were several pictures hanging on the walls, mostly of members of the Lance family. Overall, it looked a lot homier. "I see you've redecorated," he observed.

"Well, it's not a temporary living space anymore," Sara replied. "This is my place. I thought it needed to look a little more like me." She sat down on her bed and patted the space next to her. "Come on," she said, inviting him closer.

He pulled the deck out of his jacket pocket and shuffled them in his hands as he sat down beside her. Sara watched him divide the cards between the two of them, trying not to give away how anxious she was feeling. She hadn't planned on playing gin right now. She just knew she had to talk to him about something she wasn't looking forward to bringing up. They'd always been able to talk so easily during their games about anything, so she'd suggested it with hope that it would make a difficult conversation easier.

"So," Leonard said as they each picked up and sorted through their hands, "what's bothering you?"

Sara looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," he explained, "that I don't think you invited me here just to play gin. Something's on your mind. What is it?"

Sara glanced away from him, studying the floor beside her bed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Maybe not to the crew," Leonard replied, "but it is to me." He looked up at her with a kind look in his intense, expressive eyes. "Talk to me, Sara."

Sara didn't answer right away. She set down a card in the space between them and drew a new one from the deck, beginning the game. She knew what she had to say but didn't know how to start. "Leonard," she finally said as he took his turn, "there are some things I need you to know."

"Shoot."

Sara took a deep breath. "I…I wore your ring," she told him slowly. "I wore it every day for a few months." Leonard set down his cards and looked up at her, giving her his full attention. She continued, "I only stopped when I decided that I wanted to hunt down and kill Damien Darhk. I just knew you wouldn't want me to be so consumed with vengeance and bloodlust, so it felt…it felt wrong."

Leonard frowned. "He killed Laurel. Your sister. If I'd been there, I would've killed him myself."

"You always told me I was more than a killer," Sara countered.

"Because you are."

Sara set her hand of cards facedown on the bed and shifted around, pulling her knees into her chest. "That's exactly what I mean," she said. "You always saw the best in me. I felt like I was letting you down."

Leonard shook his head. "Sara, you could never let me down. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard, and I just learned about nipple hypnotism."

"We call it nipnotism, actually."

"Whatever. It still sounds very disturbing."

"Oh, it is." Sara rocked back and forth as she planned what to say next. "When I became captain, I tried so hard to be better, to be the kind of captain you would have wanted me to be. I made a promise never to leave another Legend behind. After I did that to you, I just couldn't do it again."

"Sara, we've been over this," Leonard reminded her. "I told you to leave. There was nothing for you to be sorry about, and even if there was, I agreed to forgive you."

"But I didn't forgive myself," she replied. "Not for a long time. You were…are…so important to me. I missed you, Leonard. I really missed you. There were so many times when I wished you were here, and it hurt so much to know that you weren't."

Leonard saw the sorrowful look in her eyes and his heart sank. _She was alone_, he thought. _I left her alone. She was in pain and I wasn't there for her._ "I should have been here," he said solemnly.

"That's not your fault," Sara insisted. "Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is, I need you to know how much I care and how much it means to me that you're back. And I need you to know that because, if you don't already know it, then the next thing I have to tell you might make you think I don't care as much as I do." Now came the more difficult part of the conversation, the part she'd been dreading. "I know that the Oculus feels like yesterday for you. And I remember how we…left things." She noticed his eyes dart to her lips for half a second before looking back at her eyes. "I didn't see anyone for a long time after what happened. I mean, I hooked up with people, but I didn't look for anything more meaningful. But, eventually, I found someone." Leonard blinked, but didn't seem otherwise fazed. "We were happy together," Sara continued. "We really were. But, in the end, we were too different, so we ended things. I'm still picking up the pieces from that."

She paused, wondering if Leonard would say something. He didn't. "Look," she said, "I know how you felt the day I lost you, and I would understand if you wanted to pick up exactly where we left off. If you'd come back two years ago, I probably would have wanted that too. But a lot has changed and I just…can't." She leaned back against her pillows, closing her eyes so she didn't have to see his reaction. "I don't mind the flirty banter or being close again. That's all fine. And I'm not saying I never wanted something. I did. I'm not even saying that there's no chance my feelings will every change. It's just that right now, things are so complicated that I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow, let alone after that. I just can't be anything with anybody, not so soon after what happened with Ava."

"Ava?" Leonard repeated. His voice sounded serious, but not angry, much to Sara's relief.

"Yeah. That's her name." She paused, then elaborated, "We're trying to be on better terms, but it isn't easy. She's our contact at the Time Bureau, though, so we have to try." She sat back up again, this time looking directly at Leonard's face. "The point is, we're about to go on a mission to fix these rifts. The team seems to be warming up to you, and you seem to be getting comfortable on the Waverider again. But I know this isn't the mission you signed up for, so it's your choice if you want to stay. However, if the reason you want to stay is because you're expecting something that I can't promise you…"

"And what do you want?" Leonard interrupted.

"It doesn't matter what I want," Sara answered. "This is about you."

"I know," Leonard replied. "You're talking about what I want. Well, what I want is to know what you want."

"Leonard, I'm being serious."

"I am too." He looked away from her, absentmindedly running his fingers over the cards still laying face-down in front of him. "If I said I expected nothing from you, would you want me to stay?"

Sara knew her answer instantly. "Yes, I would."

Leonard looked back up at her with a smile. "Then it's decided. I'm staying."

Sara raised her eyebrows. "Really? You don't want to take time to think about it or anything?"

"I don't see why I'd need to. You know I always enjoy some high-stakes action. And, the way I see it, I've been M.I.A. for far too long. I'm sure there were times when you and Mick, and maybe even Raymond, could have used my help. I think it's about time I made up for that."

Sara relaxed a little, though she still had questions. "Are you really sure it's okay? You don't have to pretend if it's not."

"Sara, you're my friend and my teammate. It's going to take a lot more than some muddled feelings to get rid of me." Although he spoke as if unaffected, Sara noticed what looked like a hint of sadness in his eyes. She hoped she was imagining it. "Besides, I'm willing to bet that my 'resurrection' had something to do with these rifts in the first place. Am I right?"

Sara winced. "Uh…it might have had…something…to do with it."

"Then it's only fair for me to stick around," he concluded. "You guys made a mess to save me. The least I can do is help you clean it up."

Sara smiled at him warmly. "Thank you, Leonard. I hope you know how much this means to me. And Mick, I'm sure. And the others."

"Don't mention it."

"Captain Lance," Gideon's voice rang out, "Miss Tomaz and Miss Wu are requesting your assistance in the library. Shall I tell them to wait?"

Sara slid off her bed. "No, Gideon, I'm on my way." She looked back at Leonard, still seated in front of the cards. "To be continued," she said, nodding her head toward the cards.

"Yeah," Leonard replied, scooping them up and returning them to their box, "to be continued."

* * *

Leonard reached the door to Mick's room and entered it. It was dark and cluttered, much more cluttered than his own tastes. Of course, the number of boxes of his own belongings that had been shoved into various spots around the room didn't help things. There were also several strange things that he knew had not been in Mick's room the last time the two of them had lived on the Waverider. One was an old typewriter set up in the center of Mick's desk. Another was the strange insect crawling through what appeared to be a hamster cage. Mick had informed him the night before that its name was AXL Rory, Jr.

He turned the lights on, then strolled over to the extra bunk that had been set up on the opposite wall from Mick's and sat down on it. He felt something, but he couldn't put his finger on what. Jealousy wasn't quite it. He knew he had no right to be jealous. He'd been dead, and even before that, he and Sara had never truly been together. It wasn't anger either. At least, not at Sara or Ava. Perhaps a little at himself, but there was definitely more to it than that. Heartbreak? Possibly, but he knew that wasn't fair. After three years of being absent from her life, Sara was allowing him back in at the same level of closeness they'd had before. How could he be upset about that? It was more than he felt he deserved after being gone when she'd needed him. If anything, he was grateful. She wasn't obligated to let him back in. But she wanted to, and more than that, she'd missed him and still cared about him. All of this was good news. So, why did he still feel so…strange?

He lay down on top of his bed, contemplating. He stared up at the ceiling blankly. How many times had he laid awake at night in a room just like this one, kicking himself for not taking his chance with her yet? How many nights had he fallen asleep dreaming of, even longing for a future with her by his side? Too many for him to count, although the ever-omniscient Gideon could probably give him a number if he asked.

He took off his ring and held it up above him, studying it. The idea that Sara would ever consider herself unworthy of him, even this very small piece of him, was baffling. If anything, he'd always thought the opposite was true. _She's better than me_, he thought, _in every conceivable way. How could she ever think otherwise?_

Mick stomped into the room and stopped just inside the doorway, surprised to see Leonard lying there. "Something wrong with it?" he asked, noting the way his partner was staring at the small, silver ring.

Leonard sat up quickly, sliding the ring back onto his finger. "No," he said. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Mick asked. He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Sara?"

Leonard stiffened defensively. "You gave her my ring. Why?"

Mick shrugged. "I knew."

Leonard glanced down at the ring on his finger, then back up at his partner. "I never told you."

"Snart," Mick replied, "I've been your partner since we were kids. You never had to tell me. I knew." He turned away and began searching through the drawers of his desk. "I just stayed out of it because I thought it was stupid," he added over his shoulder.

Leonard smirked. "Of course. You don't do touchy-feely."

"I don't. And neither did you before you started thinking like an idiot hero. That's why I thought it was stupid." He found what he was looking for, stuffed it in his jacket pocket, and turned around to face Leonard again. "You, uh…you want to talk about it?"

Leonard raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What happened to not doing touchy-feely?"

"I still don't. It's just…well, you haven't been around. I haven't talked to you in a while. If you want to talk about it, we can. Or we can talk about something else. Or nothing. I don't care. I don't," he repeated with emphasis.

Leonard stood up and walked over to where Mick was standing. "You don't, huh?" he drawled, clearly not believing his friend's insistence.

"No," Mick stated. "I don't. I was just…asking. To see if you did. But I don't."

"Right." Leonard stepped away, looking over the items sitting on Mick's desk as he continued, "Well, you don't need to worry about caring too much today, Mick. I'm not in a talking mood."

"Good," Mick grunted. "Me neither."

"Glad we're on the same page. Speaking of pages," Leonard picked up a book that had been lying facedown beside Mick's typewriter, "you seem to have amassed a large collection of this person's work. What's her name again?" He looked down at the cover, then smirked smugly at his partner. "Rebecca Silver?"

Mick hesitated. "She's…uh…talented."

"Oh, I'm sure she is," Leonard said, still wearing his knowing smirk. "I'm also sure you know just as much about her work as she does."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mick said, quickly grabbing the book out of Leonard's hands and throwing it backward over his shoulder without looking. It landed on the floor near his own bunk.

"Just intrigued to see you taking an interest in literature, old friend."

"I'm not!" Mick located the nearest box of Snart's things and dug through it until he found an old-looking book. He stepped toward Leonard and shoved it into his hands. "You want to read something? Here! Read one of your own stupid books. I've got things to do." He hurried out of the room as suddenly as he'd entered.

Leonard rolled his eyes after he was gone. "Whatever you say, Rebecca," he muttered. He returned to his bed, sat down, and looked at the book's cover. He smiled, recognizing it immediately. It was a copy of _Around the World in Eighty Days_ by Jules Verne. This particular edition was published sometime in the 1950s, but it was in excellent shape, since it had only been handled for a few years. He lay back on the bed and opened it to its first page, featuring a handwritten inscription: "To my favorite master planner – From Sara."

He remembered the day she'd given him that book. It hadn't been long after Gideon had restored the hand he'd frozen off and Sara had returned from the League of Assassins. He also remembered that he'd never actually finished it. He'd only been about halfway through when the Legends had gone to the Vanishing Point. He flipped through the pages until he spotted where he'd left off. "To be continued," he murmured as he began to read.

* * *

**A/N: So, as you can tell, this is going to be a bit of a slow burn for Captain Canary. Not because seeing them together wouldn't make me happy (it very much would) but Sara isn't the most emotionally open person and has lived three long years without Leonard, so I think it'll take a minute for her to be back at the same place where they left off. But don't worry - it's not going to be _too_ slow. It's just going to take a little more buildup first.**

**Also, about Leonard's taste in books...I've assumed he's a Tolkien fan since season 2 because when Mick said he had to find a "hobbit guy," Leonard immediately knew he was talking about J.R.R. Tolkien and asked if he wanted an autograph, so he definitely knew who he was. Also, the _Around the World in Eighty Days_ thing will come up again later. There's a reason why Sara gave it to him and a story about how it happened, but it'll be a while before the explanation comes up, so you'll have to be patient if you want to find out. Thanks for reading!**


	14. Mission to Malibu

Team Flash gathered on the bridge of the Waverider, mingling with the Legends as they said their goodbyes.

"You're sure you don't want to come along?" Nate asked Wally. "You know you're always welcome on the Waverider."

Charlie, standing beside him, nodded. "You did seem a bit starved for action when we found you, mate."

"I was," he agreed, "but I think I'll stick around Central City for a while. I miss being on Team Flash. They're my family, you know? But hey, if you guys ever want to hang out or talk or anything, I had Cisco make some updates on my tech. You can call me from anywhere, even the temporal zone."

Charlie gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "Brilliant!"

"We will, man," Nate told him. "Count on it."

On the other side of the room, Mona stood by Caitlin, listening intently. "You see," Caitlin told her, "the key is not to be afraid of the thing inside you. Everyone has a role to play. Even ice metas and werewolves."

"Thanks, Dr…Caitlin," Mona said, still hesitating not to use the full title of Dr. Caitlin Snow. "I just hope I figure out what Wolfie's role is. I mean, I get that she's a part of me, and I'm a Legend, but I feel like there's still more to figure out."

"You'll get it eventually," Caitlin replied with a comforting smile. "Just don't let anyone tell you Wolfie's a monster. She's not. I don't know if anyone has, but I'm telling you now because if I'd learned that lesson earlier on, my journey would have gone so much smoother. Seriously. So much."

"You could say that again," Killer Frost's voice echoed inside her head.

Near the central console, Cisco addressed Ray. "I'm going to miss having another tech genius around," he said. "Make that two, actually. Zari's pretty chill. But, dude, seriously, stop by any time."

"You've got it," Ray replied, patting him on the back. "And thanks for all the help."

"Hey, what are superhero crossovers for, right?" Cisco joked. "Anyway, I'll see you around." He turned to walk toward Charlie, Nate, and Wally. Halfway there, Leonard Snart stood in his way, stopping him in his tracks. "Whoa, man," Cisco said, "I get that you just died, but you might want to dial down the silent, dark presence thing, okay?"

"Cisco," Leonard growled, "this is about Lisa."

"Oh…" Cisco took a step back. "Yeah…um…Lisa. Your sister. That Lisa."

Leonard crossed his arms and looked down at him intimidatingly. "Yes. That Lisa."

"She…uh…we're not exactly…together," Cisco stammered. "I mean, we weren't before. But we're super not now. Because I'm with someone else, not because I did anything…to her…or…uh…"

"Cisco," Leonard said calmly.

"She left town after the whole thing with your dad," Cisco explained, ignoring Snart's interruption. "That's all. I didn't break her heart, I swear!" He raised his hand as if taking an oath.

"Cisco," Leonard repeated, still completely calm.

"Nothing happened," Cisco continued, "which means you have no reason to hurt me."

"Cisco."

"But…please don't hurt me, Captain Cold."

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Cisco, I'm only going to hurt you if you keep talking."

"Oh." He fell silent.

Leonard relaxed his posture to look slightly less menacing. "Look," he said, "whether anything happened between you two or not, Lisa trusts you. If she ever needs help and can't find me or Mick, you're the one she'll go to." His tone grew less snarky and more serious. "Mick told her I died three years ago, and he doesn't know where she is now. If you ever see her, if she ever comes to you for help, tell her I'm alive, I'm with Mick, and I'm safe. Promise me you'll do that."

Cisco nodded solemnly. "I promise."

"Good." He hesitated before adding, "And if you do see her, find some way to tell me. I don't care how. You're the brain around here. Just…tell me."

"Hey," Cisco reached out as if to pat Snart's shoulder, but a cold glare from Snart made him retreat before he could touch him, "I get it, man. I had a brother. If Lisa turns up in Central City, you'll be the first to know."

Leonard didn't smile, but his face softened just enough for Cisco to notice. "Thank you, Cisco," he said.

Sara stood near the captain's chair, checking the controls to ensure the ship was ready to time jump again. Barry walked over to join her. "Busy already?" he asked.

"A Legend's work is never done, it seems," she replied, turning around to face him. She smiled. "Thank you, Barry, for everything."

"No problem," he said. "I'm always happy to help." He glanced over his shoulder at Leonard, who had finally stepped out of Cisco's way and joined Mick along the wall of the parlor. "And I'm happy for Snart, too. I've always believed there was good in him. Now, he's got another a chance to let that good side out. You know, be the hero I always thought he could be."

Sara smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "Bet it's nice to be able to take credit for that, huh?"

"Ha!" Barry laughed. "I wish I could, but partial credit is the most I can accept."

"Why's that?"

"Because I may have started him on the path to becoming a hero," Barry explained, "and I will happily claim that victory for myself…" He leaned in toward Sara with a knowing look in his eyes. "…but I don't think I was the one who kept him on it."

Sara quickly turned her attention back to the controls. "That's what teams are for," she said, intentionally misunderstanding him. "Friendship, bonding, helping each other survive. Being on a team really brings out the best in people."

Barry noted her deflection with an amused grin. "It really does, doesn't it?"

Sara looked back at him impatiently. "Not to rush a speedster, but we've got a mission to get to."

Barry conceded, "Okay, you're right. I'll get my team out of your hair. Good luck, Captain!" He turned around to gather the rest of Team Flash and lead them back into S.T.A.R. Labs.

* * *

The Legends gathered around the central console, a hologram of the timeline projected above its center. The map showed many red circles of varying sizes scattered all throughout the timeline. "So," Zari asked, "what are we looking at?"

Sara zoomed in on the map, looking carefully at each circle. "These dots are the rifts that have been detected," she explained. "I think we should start with a simple one. That will give us more time if there's some unexpected twist to closing these things."

"As there always is," Leonard commented. He slid into the space closest to her and leaned forward against the console, lowering himself to Sara's height. "Where to first?"

Sara searched the map carefully, trying to find one that seemed relatively manageable. She focused on one and selected it, displaying the details on the hologram. "Here's one: Malibu, California, 1966."

"Right in the middle of 60s surf culture," Nate said. "Beach Boys, anyone?"

Ray grinned, then sang, "Everybody's gone surfin'…"

"…Surfin' U.S.A.!" Nate sang back, finishing where his friend left off. He reached over and high-fived Ray. "Whoo! Surf's up, dude!"

Sara tapped on the console, grabbing their attention. "We're not going surfing," she said. "We're searching for the rift and whatever anachronism came out of it. The good news is, it hasn't caused a significant change to the timeline yet. If we can nab it quickly, we can prevent an aberration."

"It's nice to be ahead for once," Constantine said.

"Very true," Sara agreed. She tapped on the console and ordered, "Gideon, plot a course for Malibu, 1966. Legends, grab your sunscreen and flip-flops because we are heading to sunny Southern California!"

The Legends took their seats and strapped themselves in. Sara took her place at the front. Leonard found a seat beside Mick. "Does she always do introductions like that now?" he asked him.

"Yeah," Mick answered, "but they're usually better."

"I heard that, Rory," Sara called back from her seat. She placed her hand over the lever powering the time drive. "Hang on!" She pushed it forward, sending the Waverider flying into the summer of 1966.

* * *

The Waverider jolted into a scenic area, parking itself in a hidden position in the brush-covered hills overlooking one of Malibu's more popular beaches. The Legends unlocked themselves from their seats. Leonard squinted. "Felt weird that," he said. Hearing his jumbled words, he immediately shut his mouth.

It was too late. Mick had already heard it. "Ha!" he laughed. "You got that time-lingo-thingamajig!"

Ray's eyes widened. "You haven't time jumped in three years," he said, "which means you're experiencing side effects again and need to readjust to time travel. Wow, that really is astonishing!"

Leonard glared at him. "Up shut, Raymond."

"It'll wear off in a few minutes," Sara reminded her teammates as she stepped toward them from the captain's position. "In the meantime, we need to go over the plan. The rift should be nearby, but there's still a lot of ground to cover. Splitting up will make it go faster."

"In a rush, are we?" Charlie asked, regarding Sara quizzically. "No time for a little fun in the sun?"

"No," Sara answered seriously. "I like a beach vacation as much as any of you – except maybe Rory – but this is a mission. We've got a lot of rifts to get through and we need to make sure we can do that smoothly and effectively." She walked closer to the group, then asked, "Ray, how's your device coming along?"

"Great," the scientist answered, "but I'm still running a few tests."

Sara thought for moment, formulating a plan in her head. "Okay. Ray, you can stay here. Keep on the comms in case we need a QB. John?"

"What, love?" Constantine replied. Leonard stiffened but tried to hide it. He now understood that "love" was practically a universal term for the strange Englishman and knew that he had no reason to think any more about it. All the same, he still wasn't particularly fond of hearing Constantine say it to Sara.

"You go inland," she told him. "There are lots of places to hide in shops, restaurants, hotels, and even the hills and brush. Look around for anything unusual. Take Mona with you in case you need an assistant." She turned toward her remaining teammates. "The rest of us can hit the beach. We'll probably need to split up further, but we can decide how once we get down there and have a better look at what we're dealing with." She looked at each face surrounding her carefully. "Everyone good?" A series of nods answered in the affirmative. "All right, then let's head to Malibu."

* * *

Sara, Nora, Charlie, Mick, Snart, Nate, and Zari emerged from the Waverider. Charlie, Sara, and Zari were dressed in era-appropriate bathing suits and high-waisted shorts. Charlie embellished her look with a pair of aviator sunglasses. Nora wore a short, navy blue sundress. Mick and Nate both wore swim trunks with button-up shirts, neither of them fully buttoned. Additionally, Nate carried a large beach bag concealing the heat and cold guns under layers of towels. Snart wore dark jeans, a black shirt, and a dark leather jacket.

Nate turned to Snart. "Dude, we're at the beach."

"And?" Snart replied.

Nate studied his appearance. "It's, like, eighty degrees."

"Hm…" he paused, thinking about the temperature of the air around him, "yeah, that sounds about right."

"You're not going to blend in, man," Nate warned him. "We need to look like we belong here."

"Pretty sure people wore leather jackets in the 60s," Snart pointed out. "Ever heard of greasers?"

"Not when you're at the beach and it's eighty degrees outside," Nate insisted. "Why don't you just dress like me and Mick?"

Leonard shrugged. "I don't do shorts."

Zari stepped in between them. "Boys, boys," she said calmly, "are we going to spend the mission arguing, or are we going to find our rift?"

Leonard said nothing. Nate mumbled, "Find our rift."

"That's what I thought," Zari replied. She turned to Sara. "What's the plan, Captain?"

Sara pointed to a small building at the end of the nearest parking lot, right on the edge of the beach. "Judging by the number of patrons," she said, "that place looks pretty popular. It's probably a bar or restaurant of some kind. I say we head in and ask around if people have seen anything strange lately."

Charlie adjusted her sunglasses and smiled. "A beachside bar? This might be our best mission in a while."

"Got that right," Mick agreed.

"Keep a low profile," Sara added, eyeing Mick and Charlie. "The timeline hasn't significantly changed yet, but it could any second. We don't want to endanger it more than it already is."

Mick held up his hands. "Yeah, yeah, no burning stuff. Whatever."

The group walked downhill, crossed the street, and made their way through the parking lot to the building. Upon closer inspection, it was definitely a bar, populated mostly by young adults who seemed to be either on their way to the ocean or recently returned from it. "Remember," Sara whispered as they approached the door, "low profile."

As they entered, they were greeted by the sound of a jukebox playing, "Surfin' U.S.A." by the Beach Boys, a rack of surfboards lying against each wall, and the smell of the ocean wafting through the open windows on the opposite side. Sara looked around, taking in the scene, then led the group to the bar, where several seats had just opened up.

The bartender, a middle-aged man in a Hawaiian shirt, waved at them. "Welcome," he said. "Can I get you started on anything?"

"Beer," Mick answered immediately.

Charlie opened her mouth to order. Sara started speaking before she got the chance. "Actually," Sara said, "this is our first time around here. We were wondering if there are any locals who can tell us more about the area."

"Well, you came to the right place," the bartender replied. "I've been here for about ten years now. I know this part of the coast like the back of my hand. What did you want to know about?"

Sara began her interrogation, keeping her demeanor as casual and relaxed as possible. "Would you say this beach is usually pretty busy? It seems like there are a lot of people here."

"Oh yeah," he answered. "This area's big, especially for the college kids. The waves are perfect this time of year. There are always parties, volleyball games, surfing competitions, and sometimes even concerts. Of course, if you wanted something a little quieter, all you have to do is walk up the coast a bit. There's an area with tide pools and caves. It's usually a little less populated because it's harder to lay out a towel on the rocks, but it's still nice."

"Good to know," Sara replied. "And has there been anything going on lately? Anything…unusual?"

He shook his head. "Not since a couple weekends ago. The kids had a bonfire to kick off summer vacation. But hey," he reached under the bar and pulled out a folded piece of paper, "I've got a spare map if you and your friends want to check out what's around."

Sara took the map from his hands and unfolded it. "Thanks," she said.

"My pleasure," he replied. "It's always nice to see new faces." He leaned in over the bar with a friendly grin. "Welcome to Malibu."

While the bartender retreated to fetch Mick's beer, the Legends crowded around the map. "Nothing on here looks incorrect," Zari observed. "The rift hasn't changed the beach layout, at least."

"Yeah," Nate said, "but think about all the people. It's the peak of the summer. With this crowd, it could be hiding in plain sight."

"Or, alternatively," Sara suggested, "it could be in the caves he mentioned. He did say fewer people go there. If no one's seen anything yet, that could be why."

"So, which is it?" Leonard asked.

"That's what we need to find out," Sara replied. She looked out the windows at the crowds of people enjoying the beach. "Charlie and Nora," she said, "come outside with me. The rest of you, stay put."

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her. "You're leaving? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if any of these beachgoers have seen anything strange," she explained. "Zari and Nate, you two stick with Snart and Rory. This place looks like it gets a lot of foot traffic. If you hear anything, let me know on comms."

"You got it, Captain," Zari said with an obedient nod.

Sara led Charlie and Nora out toward the beach, leaving Mick, Leonard, Zari, and Nate by themselves in the bar.

* * *

Mona looked over a map of Malibu, marveling at it as she walked down the street behind Constantine. "This place looks so fun," she said. "I've always wanted to see the Pacific coast. Have you ever been here before, Mr. Constantine?"

"Just Constantine is fine, love," he corrected her, "and yes, I have, but under very different circumstances."

Mona continued to peruse the attractions on the map. "There's an art museum…hiking trails…boats…surfing lessons…Ooh! Is that an amusement park?" She turned the map to place the object she was intrigued by in front of her eyes. "Oh, it's actually a little bit farther south in Santa Monica. Still, though, maybe we can stop by there once we close the rift."

"We have to find the rift first, pet," John reminded her. "Now, if I was a hole in the fabric of time, where would I be?"

Mona closed the map and looked around at the various shops near them. Most of them seemed to be selling beach gear, although there was also a grocery store across the street. She stepped to the side and peered into the window of the nearest shop. "Just surfboards and touristy things," she observed. "I don't see anything that shouldn't be there."

The two of them walked to the next couple of stores. They checked the windows, then walked inside. Both times, they left emptyhanded. "Doesn't seem like it's hiding in any of these," John remarked, "unless it's disguised as a bottle of sunscreen."

"Could it be?" Mona asked.

"I suppose it might, but probably not. You saw how that vortex looked back in Central City. The others are most likely more subtle than that one was, but they're still ultimately the same thing: a big old tear in time and space."

"Hm," Mona looked at the ground, thinking. "I guess we could keep walking, or we could join the others at the beach…" she trailed off as she looked up, noticing the tall, brush-covered hills in the distance, "…or we could check over there."

John turned to look in the direction she was facing. "Up in the hills, eh?"

"Yeah," she said. "If it hasn't affected the timeline yet, then nobody's probably seen it, which means it's got to be hiding. Maybe it's in the brush somewhere."

John considered the idea. "It's as likely as anywhere else," he finally decided. "Let's give it a shot." He leaned over to see the map still in Mona's hands. "Ah, there's an entrance," he said, pointing to a marker on the map leading to a nearby hiking trail. "Straight ahead and to the right. Come along, love." The two of them headed out in the direction of the trail.

* * *

**A/N: And now they're on their first mission with Snart! It'll be broken up over a few chapters, so this is just the first part. I'll have the next part ready soon!**


	15. Clues and Tracks

"The 1960s beach scene," Nate explained, still sitting where Sara had left him at the bar beside Zari, "was the inspiration of tons of iconic movies, shows, and songs that are still popular to this day. Even though Hawaiian and Polynesian culture is the true origin of surfing and a lot of the things that come with it, California still played a role in promoting the surf culture we know, including the coastline in and around Los Angeles. A lot of the places in that area are still super famous for their beaches in the present, like Malibu, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Venice Beach…um, where's Snart?" He leaned over to notice that Leonard was no longer sitting with them. "Mick, where did he go?"

Mick sipped his beer without looking at Nate. "He'll be back."

"He'll be back?" Nate repeated confusedly. "What does that mean?"

Zari turned around in her seat, looking for Leonard. "Oh, I see him. Back wall."

Sure enough, Snart was leaning against the back wall in the most dimly lit part of the bar. Near him was a woman who had just come in from the beach. They appeared to be in a conversation, but she seemed to be doing most of the talking by far. As she turned to leave, she tripped over a chair that had been pulled out too far from its table. Snart smoothly caught her fall, reaching his fingers very subtly into the side pocket of the purse on her arm as he did. Once she was out of the room, he slunk swiftly back to the bar. "She said she saw something strange in the water this morning," he said, keeping his voice low enough for the bartender a few feet away to remain oblivious. "It was at a private beach not far from here. These can get us in." He reached into his pocket and slid a membership card and key toward Zari.

Zari and Nate stared at the stolen items, then at Snart. Zari spoke first, "Dude, what was that?"

"Doing my job," Leonard replied. "Sara said to listen around for any unusual reports. I listened around. Personally, I'd prefer to case the place more, but at least we've got one option to check out."

"Snart," Nate said, his eyes wide, "are you crazy? What are you doing?"

"Like I said, my job. She's on her way to join her friends back near the water. I'd give it a solid twenty minutes before she realizes anything's missing, and then another ten while she searches the sand. So," he turned to look at his newest teammates, "you guys hear anything while I was over there?"

Nate frowned. "Dude, you can't just go off alone like that on your first mission."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Nathaniel, this is far from my first mission."

"Well, sure, not technically," Nate admitted, "but out of the four of us, you are the one with the least amount of time on the Waverider."

"I've been on it longer than any of you," Mick pointed out, "and I think Snart can make his own decisions."

"You're biased," Nate said. He looked to Zari for support. "You're on my side, right?"

"I don't know," Zari admitted, "maybe." She turned to look at Leonard. "What did that woman say about the water?"

"Not much," he replied. "Just that there's something very wrong with the currents today in a way she's never seen before."

"Okay." She picked up the membership card and key and tucked them into the pocket of her shorts. "That does sound like the potential effects of a rift." She turned back to Nate. "What's your deal? Suddenly in a killjoy mood?"

"No," Nate immediately denied. "I'm not a killjoy. I'm just saying we need to use teamwork. Especially those of us with less experience."

"I know all about teamwork, Nathaniel," Snart drawled. "I also know what I'm doing."

"He does," Mick grunted.

"Again, Mick, you're biased," Nate reiterated.

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong," Mick replied, taking another sip of his beer.

"All I'm saying is," Nate said, focusing again on Snart, "it's probably best if you hang back and watch us just this once. Then, maybe you can take charge next mission. But for now, just chill."

Leonard narrowed his eyes. "Chill?"

"Well…yeah. Think of it as a trial run. Everyone struggles a little with their first few missions. I sure did. This is your chance to take your time and ease yourself back into the insanity of the Legends slowly, you know?" He paused, then added with a reassuring smile, "That doesn't mean it was a bad lead, though. We can totally check out that private beach. Just take it easy for now. That's all."

Leonard said nothing at first. He glanced over his shoulder, then warned, "Trouble at five o'clock."

Nate and Zari looked and saw a group of tough-looking young men entering the bar, none of whom looked particularly happy. "What are they, some kind of surfer gang?" Zari asked.

As if in answer to her question, one of the men addressed another man sitting across the room. "I thought we told you this was our beach," he sneered.

The other man stood up, glaring back at him as he stepped closer. "Can't own the ocean," he retorted. "We go where the waves take us."

"Then let them take you back to Ventura," the first man replied. "This isn't your territory. It's ours."

Zari rolled her eyes and groaned, "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me."

The two men, now both standing near the center of the room, looked at her, shocked. "What did you say?" the first asked.

She pointed at him, then the other man. "Do you have any idea how cheesy you guys sound? Just grab yourselves a camera and you'll have a dumb B-movie ready to go."

"Hey," the second man said, "this is just between us. We don't need chicks getting involved."

Zari stood up and took a step toward them. "Chicks?" she asked, not remotely intimidated by them. "Wow. Is that what you call all women, or just the ones who aren't impressed by you?"

A chorus of varied reactions echoed through the bar. Nate stood up and joined her. "Sick burn, Z," he said. "Now, why don't you guys just move along? I don't think any of us need any trouble right now."

"This is our turf, dude," the first surfer said. "The only ones causing trouble are the ones who don't belong here. And if you stand in our way, that includes you too."

"What?" Nate said with an amused chuckle. "Aren't you surfers supposed to be all about good vibes and stuff?"

"We are," the second surfer replied. "They're not." He pointed angrily at his rival. "You're getting your bad vibes all over this place, man."

Zari shook her head. "And it just got cheesier."

Nate stepped in between the two men, holding out his hands in a gesture to stop them. "Let's all just breathe, guys. There's plenty of ocean for…ow!"

Someone from one of the rival gangs had thrown a can of something at the leader on Nate's opposite side. It hit Nate instead. Instinctively, his body turned to steel as a defense mechanism. For a moment, everyone in the bar stared at him, shocked. Then, all of a sudden, chaos broke loose. The two rival gangs fought each other. Uninvolved onlookers either ran out or picked sides and joined in. Members of both gangs targeted Nate, who found himself in the middle of it all. Zari flung his attackers away with a gust of wind, but soon found herself separated from him by the crowd, unable to repeat her act of assistance. Nate pushed his steel head out of the scuffle to look at Leonard and Mick, who were among the very few people not fighting.

"Guys!" he called out to them. "Help me out!"

Leonard crossed his arms. "What was it you wanted me to do again?" he asked sarcastically. "Hang back and watch? 'Chill'?"

"Okay, okay!" Nate conceded, pulling two men away from each other as he dodged a hit. "I take it back! Go ahead and do whatever you do!"

Mick leaned toward Leonard. "Are you going in?" he asked.

"Wouldn't miss it," he said with a smirk. "I'll go right."

"I'll go left," Mick said.

The two rogues stood up, left their seats, and dove into the fight.

* * *

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Charlie asked, following Sara through the beach crowds. "I mean, I know it's a rift, but what does it look like?"

"That's part of the mystery," said Nora, walking beside her.

"I just hope we find it soon," Sara said. "We don't have time to waste."

Charlie caught up to Sara and stood in her way. "About that," she said, "why are you all business today? Is there a time limit on closing these things or something? It's hardly fair to leave your team in the dark, mate."

"It's not that," Sara replied. "We just have a lot of them to get through." She peered over Charlie's shoulder. "Looks like there's a crowd by that volleyball net. Might be worth checking out."

She began walking again, with Nora and Charlie beside her. As they made their way to the volleyball net, Charlie guessed, "It's about that Snart bloke, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Sara asked, still looking straight forward at her destination.

"You think we made a mess of time when we ripped him out," she elaborated, "and you want to fix it before your ex figures out what we did."

"Bingo," Nora said, glancing at Sara. "Hit the nail on the head, Charlie."

"Maybe," Sara replied, only willing to partially admit it, "but that shouldn't matter right now. Right now, our goal is to fix 1966."

"I just think you're overreacting," Charlie continued. "Ava could hardly be upset at you for saving your friend's life. She's a stickler, sure, but not a heartless monster."

"Charlie," Sara said, holding up a hand in front of her, "let me worry about Director Sharpe. You just need to focus on getting information about our rift."

"All right, Captain, I hear you," she said, backing off.

The trio reached the crowd at the net. In its center was a young man in swim trunks. He was drawing a large shape in the sand with his finger. He finished and pointed at it. "It looked just like this," he explained to those surrounding him.

Sara, Nora, and Charlie looked down at the shape. Sara recognized it immediately. It was a footprint, and not just any footprint. It belonged to a very large reptile that definitely did not belong in 1966. "What looked just like this?" Sara asked, pushing her way to the front of the crowd.

"Something I saw by the rocks up the coast," the young man replied. "There were a ton of prints shaped just like it. It's like it's straight out of a monster movie or something."

"You're making it up, dude," someone in the crowd interjected. "Nothing leaves prints that big."

"It's real!" the young man exclaimed. "I swear! I'd have taken a picture if I'd had my camera."

Nora joined Sara at the front of the scene. "Where did you say you saw it?" she asked. "By the rocks?"

The young man pointed up the coastline. "Yeah, that way."

"But you didn't see what made the prints?" Sara asked.

He shook his head. "Nah, just what it left behind. But there's definitely something gnarly over there."

Sara backed out of the crowd, pulling Charlie and Nora aside with her. "Looks like we've found our anachronism," she said, quietly enough that only the two other Legends could hear her. "We've got a T-Rex."

* * *

"I love the 60s!" Mick bellowed as he knocked a bar patron to the floor. He nudged Leonard, who had just reached him after fighting off one of Nate's attackers. "Takes you back, doesn't it?"

Leonard swung his fist at a man attempting to throw a beer bottle at Mick. "Yeah. Still a couple of things missing, though."

Mick nodded as he threw someone roughly aside. "We're missing an assassin and a soundtrack. I can do something about one of those things." He ducked and shoved his way toward the jukebox and hit the necessary buttons to start playing another Beach Boys tune.

Nate paused his fighting for a second, listening to the song's vocal intro. "'I Get Around'? That's a fun one!"

Zari backed up against him in a defensive position. "What is with you and old surf rock? This isn't even from your generation."

"It's catchy and musically innovative for the time!" he insisted. "Whoa, Z, look out!"

With the music blasting, the fight continued. Leonard threw a man across a table, then immediately spun around to block another from hitting him. He suddenly heard Sara's voice in his comms. "Snart," she said, "what's your status?"

He ran to the bar, leaped over it, and ducked behind it, sitting on the floor where he couldn't be seen by the rest of the fight's participants. The bartender had long since run back into the kitchen. "Sara," he drawled calmly, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just checking in on…wait, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder as a bottle loudly crashed against the wall nearest to him.

"It sounds crazy over there," Sara's voice said. "You didn't get into a bar fight, did you?"

"You really think I'd do that without you?"

Sara fell silent for a moment, listening to the chaotic background sounds of crashes, thuds, yells, and upbeat music. "Leonard," she finally said, "did I or did I not say to keep a low profile?"

"Hey, your metal friend is the one who got us into this. And a couple of rival surf gangs."

"Oh…my…I was literally gone for five minutes."

"I think it was slightly more than that, just to be fair." He peeked over the top of the bar, noted that the fighting was still just as intense, and ducked back under it. "What do you need?"

"I need my team not to get in trouble the second I turn my back."

"A bit too late for that. But why did you call? What do you need us to do?"

"We found an anachronism," she answered. "Dinosaur tracks in the rocky part of the beach." She paused, then continued, "I was going to ask you to bring the bar crew over to meet us there for backup, but honestly, right now I just need you to get yourselves out of there in one piece. Can you do that?"

"Sara," he replied, "I've gotten myself out of much worse situations in one piece. I've got this." He thought for a second, then added, "Did you just say dinosaur tracks?"

"Yep. A T-Rex. Just…get out of there, okay? Meet us if you can. Signing off." She hung up.

Leonard raised his eyes just above the bar, scanning the scene. "On my way, Sara," he muttered. He jumped back over the bar to locate Nate, Zari, and Mick and, hopefully, pull them out of the fight in time to help their captain.

* * *

"That looks like a T-Rex all right," Nora said, observing the large footprint in the sand before them. There were rocky cliffs and tide pools scattered throughout this part of the shore, but still enough sand to mark several matching tracks. "Claws and everything."

Charlie lowered her sunglasses down her nose and squatted down to look closer. "Sure is, mate." She looked up at Sara. "And how exactly do we catch a T-Rex, Captain? You ever run into one before?"

"Yeah," Sara replied, "but that was when we had Amaya. You can't replicate the powers of her totem, can you?"

"Nope," Charlie said, standing up, "just appearances."

"Then that option's out," Sara said. She walked around the giant footprint, thinking. "There's got to be a way to…Ray's shrink ray!" she exclaimed, stopping her pacing. "If we can find the T-Rex, Ray can shrink it down to a manageable size."

"Brilliant," Charlie grinned. She noted the serious look on Sara's face. "Come on, mate, you've got to admit shrinking dinosaurs is pretty epic stuff."

"It'll be a lot more epic once we get our Jurassic guest back when and where it belongs," Sara replied, "and close the rift, which we still haven't found."

"Hey, just relax, okay?" Nora suggested. "We've handled worse. We've got this. I'll call Ray." She spoke into her comms, "Babe, have you got a second? We could really use a shrink ray…Yes, I know that's not its actual name…Okay, great! Thanks!" She turned to her teammates again. "He's on his way, and he's done testing the rift-closing thing, or whatever it's called."

"Perfect," Charlie said. "We can just follow the tracks, shrink the T-Rex, then locate the rift and shut it down. Not that the captain's in a fun mood," she threw a sideways glance at Sara, "but I noticed a pier with some carnival rides on the map. It's just a bit south of here. Maybe once we solve this puzzle, we can give it a go."

Sara bent down, studying the footprint. "Charlie, I'm not even going to think about that until we have this T-Rex in custody."

"Fair enough," the shapeshifter said with a shrug.

"I'm sharing my location with Ray," Nora said, pressing a button on her comms. "We should follow the tracks. He can catch up."

"Agreed," said Sara, standing back up.

Although the scattered rocks and ebbing tide pools provided many interruptions to the trail of dinosaur tracks, there was still enough of a pattern in the sand for the three Legends to follow. After a while, the tracks veered off to the side, away from the water. They led to a cliff with a middle section that had been eroded by the waves into the shape of a cave. The prints stopped there and never came back out.

The trio looked at each other uncomfortably. "Draw straws?" Charlie suggested.

Nora tiptoed two steps closer to the mouth of the cave. "I…I'll go," she declared nervously.

"Nora, no," Sara argued. "That thing could eat you alive."

"Not if I put it to sleep with my magic first," Nora replied. "I'm our best bet right now. I can put a spell on it that lasts until Ray shows up."

Sara placed her hand on Nora's shoulder. "I'm going with you. I'm not sending one of my Legends in there alone."

"Oh bollocks," Charlie said, stepping forward to join them. "I can't very well leave you two alone with a T-Rex, now, can I?" She looked up at the dark space in the cliff's opening. "When we get out alive," she said, "one of you'd better buy me a drink."

The three of them crept inside as silently as they could. Although the sunlight was visible through the entrance, there were enough overlapping shadows to give the cave an eerie, dark feeling. At first, none of them could see any sign of a dinosaur. Then, they heard an ominous snarl. They carefully took one more step forward together and saw the outline of an extremely large reptile. It moved its head back and forth, almost as if searching for something in the deep reaches of the cave. Luckily, it didn't see them. Nora made eye contact with each of her companions before raising her hands and beginning to whisper a spell.

Sara's comms buzzed. "You there, love?" Constantine's voice asked. She didn't respond, too focused on not attracting the T-Rex's attention. He tried again, "Sara? Captain Lance? You didn't get eaten by some ogre, did you?"

"Not now, John," she whispered through clenched teeth, eyes still focused on the oblivious dinosaur.

"Not now? I thought you'd be a little happier to hear that we've found the anachronism that the rift let in."

Sara balked. "You…found the anachronism?" she whispered.

"Yeah. It was up in the hills. Big old dinosaur egg. Mona says it looks like it belongs to a T-Rex. Fancy that! Bet its mother's looking all over for it. Good thing she didn't follow it out or that girl would be really angry."

Sara stared up at the ginormous creature above her. "Its…mother?" she whispered. "Um, John?"

"What, love?"

"You might have spoken too soon."

"Shh!" Nora hissed. "I have to focus. I've never done this on a dinosaur before." She closed her eyes and began reciting her spell softly again.

"Don't tell me this egg's mum made it through," John's voice said worriedly.

"Shh," Sara whispered, even more quietly than before. "Later."

A seagull picked that exact moment to fly into the cave and nearly bump into one of the jagged edges of its shadowy wall, letting out a loud, surprised squawk. The T-Rex turned around, looking for the source of the sound. While the seagull was lucky enough to be perched in a dark, practically invisible corner, the three Legends standing just a few feet from the dinosaur were not.

"Oh crap," Sara said. "Run!"

* * *

**A/N: And the 1966/T-Rex mission continues! I know Nate's not usually a controlling person and I hope he doesn't come across too much like one. I think he's just still getting used to working with Snart and figuring out how to get along with him, so there's a little bit of hesitance to let him take charge of the situation this early on. More on that and the last part of the mission in the next chapter...**


	16. Jurassic Pier

Nora, Charlie, and Sara sprinted toward the cave's opening. The T-Rex roared and lunged at Nora, who zapped it with a blast of magic smoke just in time to get away. "I don't know why it's so upset!" Charlie panted as she ran. "We're not exactly a match in size!"

"It's because she can't find her egg!" Sara shouted back. "The two of them must have been sent through the rift and dropped in different places!"

"An angry mum, eh? That does explain it." Charlie dove out of the dinosaur's reach, sliding into the sand outside the cave. Nora and Sara ran out after her. They looked up as the large creature stomped out into the sunlight. It kept its eyes fixed on them.

Nora's jaw dropped. It looked even more intimidating out in the open. "Um…nice lizard?" she said nervously.

It roared in response.

Charlie shook her head. "Definitely not a nice lizard."

"John," Sara said into her comms, "please tell me that egg is safe."

"Mona's taking good care of it, love," he replied.

"Good," she said, stepping backward carefully. "Maybe this dinosaur mama will calm down once she finds her missing kid. Head toward our location. Hurry!"

The dinosaur stomped closer and lunged at Sara. She jumped into the air and landed just out of its reach. It followed her. She pulled her batons out of the pockets of her shorts and connected them into a long staff, then stuck one end of it into the sand and used it to swing around, landing a hard kick against the creature's jaw. While it was distracted, Nora recited a spell to hold its legs still, preventing it from moving any closer to her teammates. It turned its head and roared angrily at her, then thrashed its tail back and forth in an attempt to break free.

The T-Rex's tail hit the cliffs, sending several rocks tumbling. Charlie and Sara ducked to avoid them. Nora noticed them a moment later, gasped, and let go of her spell as she did the same. Taking advantage of the situation, the dinosaur quickly spun around and lunged toward Nora, its toothy mouth open wide to attack…

An icy blast hit it in the back of the head, just strong enough to leave a frosty white mark on its scales. It shook its head in confusion, trying to find the source of the strange sensation. Nora ran out of its reach. The three Legends in the sand looked up at the top of the cliff.

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Leonard Snart asked, pointing his cold gun down from above.

"Snart!" Nora and Charlie exclaimed.

Sara smiled. "Always one for a dramatic entrance, aren't you?"

Mick, Nate, and Zari emerged on top of the cliff beside him. "Not just him," Zari said. She stretched out her hands and created a whirlwind around the T-Rex, blowing sand into its eyes long enough for them to all climb down the rocks and join their fellow Legends. "So, what do we do with a T-Rex in 1966?" Zari asked Sara as she arrived by her side.

"Keep it in one place until Ray shows up with his shrink ray," Sara replied. "We can't let it get near the crowded part of the beach."

Meanwhile, on the Waverider, Ray Palmer enlarged his A.T.O.M. suit and put it on. He strapped in his shrink ray and rift-closing device, then prepared to leave. As he passed through the bridge, he noticed a red blinking light on the timeline map. "Um, Gideon?" he asked, standing at the central console. "What's going on?"

"There appears to be a new aberration in the timeline, Dr. Palmer," the A.I. responded, projecting the image of a newspaper front page over the map.

Ray looked at it, then gasped. "Oh…no…that's bad." He spoke into her comms so that the whole team could hear him, "Guys, we have a situation."

Mick lifted his heat gun and pointed it at the T-Rex warily. "You're telling me, Haircut," he said.

Ray took a second look at the article. "The timeline just changed. Apparently, a dinosaur rampages down the coast from Malibu, attacking hundreds of beachgoers and destroying a lot of the beach attractions, finally culminating in tearing apart Santa Monica Pier. Gideon says it'll take years for the area to fully recover."

"Aw, man," Nate groaned. "Not Santa Monica Pier. That's a local landmark."

"Is that the carnival place from the map?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Nora replied. "I think so."

The T-Rex, finally able to see again, turned around and glared down at the Legends. It lifted its head and roared louder than before.

"Ray," Sara said quickly, "get down here as fast as you can." She looked left and right at the teammates with her. "Legends," she ordered, "we've got to keep this girl in one spot. If she moves an inch, give her all you've got."

The dinosaur lunged forward. Mick shot out a blast of flame and swung it back and forth, forcing the T-Rex to turn its ginormous head away from them. Leonard followed his attack by shooting the cold gun at the sand around its feet. It snarled and shuffled backward to stop the thin layer of ice from reaching it. Regaining its balance, it charged at them. It opened its mouth and aimed for Mick. Leonard shoved him out of its path, then pointed his weapon at its head with a defiant sneer.

Sara saw the T-Rex now looking directly at Leonard. It looked angrier than ever and ready to attack. She ran toward Leonard, using her staff to catapult herself closer to him, positioning herself beside him in a defensive stance. While she did this, Nate ran at the attacking dinosaur, turning himself into steel. When it lunged again, he jumped in the way, catching its jaw in his strong metal hands and holding it back, barely. He felt himself slide backward, then was flung aside by a strong shake of the dinosaur's head.

Charlie picked up a rock and threw it at the large creature, hitting it on the side of its neck. She waved her hands wildly. "Hey, you big wanker!" she shouted. "Over here!"

The T-Rex turned to look at Charlie. It was met with a double attack from Zari and Nora. Zari sent another gust of sandy wind into its eyes. Nora threw a blast of purple energy through the air. Blinded and thrown off balance, it stepped clumsily backward, away from the Legends.

In doing so, the T-Rex stumbled into the rocky cliff, once again loosening chunks of earth that came tumbling down toward the Legends. It roared and thrashed its head and tail back and forth, damaging the cliff's edges even more. One more blind sidestep from the giant reptile and it was a rockslide.

Charlie, Nora, and Zari sprinted toward the water to get out of the rocks' path as they fell toward the sand. Leonard, Sara, and Mick, who were much closer to the source of the rockslide, looked around quickly for somewhere to take cover. Nate scrambled to his feet and ran to them. "I can take it!" he shouted, still in steel form. "Just get out of here!"

"Leave you out here with that thing?" Mick asked, pointing his gun at the T-Rex.

Nate looked up. The rocks were falling quickly, only seconds from impact. "Give me your guns," he said. "My steel plus your weapons can hold it back."

Snart grimaced. "Not gonna happen."

"But…" Nate started to argue.

"There's no time!" Sara exclaimed. She pointed to the mouth of the cave, mostly unshaken by the still-thrashing dinosaur. "Get in! All of you!"

She grabbed Nate by the arm and pulled him into the cave, followed by Leonard and Mick. They dove inside just as the rocks crashed onto the beach. The T-Rex roared as it was hit, then took off running down the coast in a frenzy. One final swipe of its tail hit the edge of the cave, causing the rocks directly above it to crumble and fall, destroying the exit.

"No!" Nate shouted, running toward the opening. He stretched out his metal arms to try to hold open a space but found himself quickly yanked back. While he was physically strong enough not to budge, the surprise of the moment caused him to give in. Within moments, the exit was fully blocked.

The four Legends inside the cave stared at the pile of jagged rocks in dismay. Nate turned to see Leonard standing closest to him and realized he must have pulled him away. "Dude," he said, changing back into his normal composition, "I could have held it open!"

"You're welcome," Snart replied without looking at him.

There were enough tiny gaps in the rocks for air and a few tiny streaks of sunlight to get through. It was still dark, but light enough for the group to see each other's basic forms. Mick stepped toward the rocks and jammed his hands into the gaps, trying to break them loose. After trying unsuccessfully for a few seconds, he backed away and grumbled, "I hate dinosaurs."

Sara sighed and rubbed her temples. "Great. We've got a T-Rex running loose in 1966 terrorizing who knows how many people. We came to a time without any significant aberrations and managed to create one all on our own. This is just great. Now what am I going to tell Ava? That I'm a screw up of a captain who lets the timeline fall apart right under my nose?"

Leonard turned to her and tried to calm her down. "Sara, it wasn't you…"

"No," Nate said, stepping toward him, "it wasn't her. I could have held it back if you'd given me your gun."

Leonard shook his head. "Did you see the size of that thing? Gun or no gun, it would have eaten you alive."

"Not if I was careful," Nate insisted. "And anyway, that's a risk I was willing to take. At least I would have given the rest of you a head start."

"Head start from where?" Mick asked, gesturing toward the blocked exit. "We're trapped, Pretty!"

"Not the point," Nate replied. "Snart, we're supposed to be a team. Teammates listen to each other. Why don't you listen to me?"

"I listen," Snart replied. "I just don't like what I hear."

Nate sighed exasperatedly. "Well, why not?"

"Oh, I don't know," he returned sarcastically. "Maybe because I don't want to see my crew become dinosaur food."

Sara stepped forward into the space between them and held up her hands. "Okay, what is going on?" she asked. "Why are you two acting like this?"

Snart said nothing. Nate waited a moment, then answered, "All I'm trying to do is help, okay? He's the one going off and doing his own thing whenever he feels like it."

Sara put her arms down and smirked a little as memories of Leonard butting heads with Rip and Ray came back to her. "So, Snart plays by his own rules. Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"My rules work for me," Leonard said. "If they don't work for you, then don't follow them. No need to get on my back about it."

Nate shook his head. "Look, Snart," he said, "I really am trying to help you. When I first joined the Legends, I was so excited to finally be doing something cool with my life that I dove into so many situations I wasn't ready for. I only found my place on the team because the originals were there to guide me and mentor me. I know you're not technically 'new' to the Legends, but you are new to what we do now. I'm just trying to do for you what they did for me."

Leonard stared at Nate for a moment, his face unchanging. Finally, he spoke, "No, that's not it."

Nate tilted his head, looking at him confusedly. "Um, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is."

Leonard remained unconvinced. "No."

Nate laughed a little. "No? What do you even mean?"

Leonard crossed his arms and leaned his back against the wall of the cave. "I mean," he replied, "that you don't trust me."

Nate balked. "I don't trust you? Seriously? You're my teammate, man. How could I not trust you?"

"It's obvious, Nathaniel," Snart explained. "You lost track of me in that bar for five seconds and started looking around in a panic. You're on edge any time I act without telling you what I'm thinking first. Not that I can blame you. I do have a reputation." He smirked as he made this last statement.

Sara spoke up again, "Nate, is that true?"

Nate stammered, "No…no, it's not…really…I mean…okay, fine." He looked down at the ground and admitted reluctantly, "Maybe a little." He quickly looked back up again at Snart. "You're right, okay? You do have a reputation. I lived in Central City for a little while. I know who you are." It wasn't a lie. He had heard stories about the infamous robber while working with Wally West in Central City. There was also the issue of the Legion of Doom, but he had made a promise to keep that topic off limits.

Leonard maintained his smirk and began to say, "Always pleased to…"

"Not now, Snart," Sara interrupted, pointing at him. "Let Nate finish." He shut his mouth.

"But I want to give you a chance," Nate continued earnestly. "Really, I do. You're a Legend. One of us. The others gave me a chance and believed in me. I could hardly call myself a Legend if I didn't do the same for you. It's just…it's a little hard to get used to, you know? I didn't think it would be, but now that we're out in the field, it is. And I'd get used to it a lot faster if you just listened to me when I'm trying to help you out."

"Well, maybe I'd listen more if you trusted me," Leonard countered, frowning.

"Sounds like we have a chicken and egg problem," Nate concluded.

"Sounds like we do," Leonard replied.

Mick grunted as he struck his fist against the unmoving rocks before him. "No, we have a T-Rex and egg problem!"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Not talking about that, Mick."

"Well, we should be," his partner argued. "It's getting away while we're all stuck in here listening to Pretty talk about his feelings."

"Hey!" Nate said, a little offended. "There's nothing wrong with talking about your feelings."

"Mick does have a point," Sara admitted. "We've still got a chance to get this aberration under control, but we're running out of time to do it." She looked at Leonard, then Nate. "Can you guys just try to get along from here on out? We all need to listen to and trust each other if we want to save the sixties."

Nate nodded slowly. "You're right, Captain." He smiled warmly at Leonard. "Want to give this teammate thing another shot?"

Leonard stood silently for moment. He looked down, then made eye contact with Sara. She seemed serious. He glanced back at Nate. "Okay."

"Okay!" Nate exclaimed enthusiastically. He opened up his arms and took a step closer in Leonard's direction. "Bro hug it out?"

Leonard crossed his arms and didn't move. "Absolutely not."

Nate shrugged. "Not there yet. Got it." He turned around to face the wall of rocks. "Now, how to get out of here…"

* * *

Nora, Charlie, and Zari ran out of the water once the coast was clear. "Bollocks!" Charlie exclaimed, creating a splash with a frustrated stomp. "Now the captain's trapped and we've got an anachronism on the loose."

"Maybe I can get them out," Nora suggested, walking toward the cave's blocked entrance. "I can lift the rocks with my magic."

"But what about the beach?" Zari asked. "And Santa Monica Pier?"

"One problem at a time," Nora replied. "Just let me…Ray?" She noticed a tiny flying speck move past her eye. It landed on the ground and immediately expanded into the full-sized A.T.O.M.

"Hey, guys," Ray said cheerfully. "Where's the dinosaur?"

Charlie and Zari pointed silently down the coastline. Ray looked and saw the T-Rex running, now in the distance. "This suit flies fast," he said. "I think I can catch up." He paused, looking around. "Where did everyone go?" Charlie and Zari pointed silently again, this time at the jagged rocks covering the mouth of the cave. "Oh…yikes."

"Yeah, yikes," Nora agreed. "There was a rockslide and they ran inside for cover, but now they're trapped." She stretched her arms and rubbed her hands together, stepping toward the cave. "Hang tight, guys, I'll have them out in a minute."

"Half a minute if I help," Ray said, moving to stand beside her. He embiggened until he was as tall as the cliff itself. "I'll get the top ones," he called down at her. "You get the ones stuck at the bottom."

He reached out his giant hand and grabbed the top layer of rocks, shaking them free and tossing them into the water. He took the next handful down and did the same. Nora raised her hands and loosened the last layer of rocks, throwing them aside. Ray shrank down to his normal size. The cave was finally open.

Sara, Mick, Leonard, and Nate emerged into the sunlight. "Nice save, bro!" Nate said, high-fiving his best friend. He sucked in his breath uncomfortably as the strong mechanical hand of the A.T.O.M. suit met his non-steeled one. "…ow."

Ray smiled sheepishly. "Heh…sorry, buddy."

"Thanks for the save, guys," Sara said. She spoke into her comms, "Constantine, what's your status?"

"Nearly there, love," he replied.

Sara turned to the rest of the Legends, who were now gathered around her. "Time to regroup. Ray, I'll need you to fly after the T-Rex. Your first priority right now is to make sure it doesn't damage the beach or hurt any civilians. If you see an opportunity to shrink it without losing it in the waves or injuring anyone, take it. But try to keep the witnesses as low as possible. Actually…" she looked at Zari and Nora, "…I think a storm might do the trick."

"We can help with that," she replied, "but there's something else. Someone at the bar might have seen the rift." She opened her palm, revealing the stolen key and membership card. "It's in the water by a private beach, but that's the opposite direction of the pier."

"I've got it," Charlie volunteered, taking the items out of Zari's hand. "I'll just take Ray's latest creation and be off."

"It's actually called a temporal energy gun," Ray corrected her.

"Whatever, Rage," she replied, taking it from him.

"Sounds like a plan," Sara said, nodding her approval. "The rest of us will head for the pier with the egg. If Ray can't shrink our dinosaur before it gets there, reuniting her with her child might calm her down. Everyone got it? Go!"

* * *

Zari and Nora perched on a tall rock overlooking the beach. "Ready, Ray?" Zari asked.

"Ready when you are, Z," Ray responded as he flew through the air.

Nora turned to her companion. "Are you sure this will work?"

"They're Californians in the middle of summer," Zari replied sarcastically. "They don't know how to deal with weather. If anything, this is overkill."

Zari stretched her hands out and concentrated. The winds picked up over the water. They grew stronger and faster, swirling around as they collected any traces of clouds that could be found. Nora recited a spell and created an illusion of dark fog over the water. Zari refocused on the beach and moved the winds closer to shore. Sure enough, as the beachgoers noticed what appeared to be a storm coming closer, they began to pack up and head for shelter.

Meanwhile, the dinosaur continued its rampage down the coastline. It stomped through the shallow parts of the water, its giant feet sending splashes in all directions. Ray zoomed through Nora's cloudy layer, trying to catch up. After a few minutes, he was finally within arm's reach of its tail.

"Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly, reaching out to grab it.

When the T-Rex felt his grip, it swung its tail forcefully, sending him flying through the air away from shore. The suit's flight abilities kept him from falling into the water, but he still found himself separated from his target by a significant distance. He watched the T-Rex's tail disappear into the fog. "You're not getting away that easily, Gertrude," he said before flying after it.

* * *

Sara, Mick, Leonard, and Nate climbed up the stairs from the beach and found themselves in a parking lot. Many people had already fled the sudden change of weather in their cars, but a few had decided to wait it out in nearby restaurants and shops, leaving a small population of mid-1960s vehicles parked near the beach.

"John and Mona are coming," Sara said to the group. "We need a way to get the egg to the pier before its mother. Any ideas?"

"The Waverider's too far away," Nate said. "If we walk back to it now, we'll never make it in time. Too bad we can't fly. Or teleport, for that matter."

Leonard spotted a man walking away from a car. He was alone, heading toward a snack shack only a few feet away, and his car keys were very clearly sitting in the side pocket of his shorts, nearly dangling out of them. It was almost too easy. Leonard looked at Nate, then Sara. "I think we've got a ride. Stay here."

He strolled casually toward the man, not making any eye contact or acknowledging his presence in any way. As they crossed paths, he bumped into him, silently grabbing the keys as the man stumbled away.

"Excuse you," Leonard drawled.

"Sorry, dude," the other man said, hurrying away.

Once he was inside the snack shack, Leonard led the other Legends over the car he'd seen the man exit. It was a woodie station wagon with a red surfboard strapped to the roof.

"Is this our ride?" Nate asked.

"Apparently," Sara replied, unfazed.

Nate studied the vehicle in front of him. "Okay…but this is a station wagon, not a race car. It'll take us at least thirty minutes to get from here to Santa Monica Pier."

Leonard smirked and tossed the keys into the hands of his partner, who caught them without looking. "Not if Mick is driving."

"He's right," Mick said as he opened the driver's door. "There's a reason I always drove the getaway car. I've got no fear on the road. The road is afraid of me! Haha!" He slid into his seat and put his hands on the wheel, an excited gleam in his eyes.

Leonard moved to open the passenger door. As he did, Sara blocked him from entering. "If Mick's driving," she said, "I call shotgun. Captain's privileges."

Leonard leaned in toward her and held the door open, waving her in with his free hand. "Oh, I insist," he drawled. He shut the door behind her and opened up the side. "You getting in or what, Nathaniel?"

"I…" Nate hesitated for second, then said with conviction, "…trust you. I'm getting in." He climbed inside behind Leonard.

"Mick," Sara ordered, "get us to the highway and step on it!"

"Oh yeah!" Mick shouted as he obediently took the car out of park. "That's what I'm talking about! Whoo!" He stepped on the gas and sped the team out of the parking lot toward the highway.

As they zoomed down the street, far over the speed limit, Nate spotted two familiar faces by the side of the road. "It's Mona and Constantine!" he exclaimed. "Pull over!"

Mick nodded and the car skidded to a halt just off the edge of the road. Sara rolled down her window and shouted, "Get in, Legends, we've got a T-Rex to race!"

Constantine stared at the car. Mona would have stared if she hadn't been carrying a dinosaur egg half the size of her body that practically covered her face. Finally, Constantine shrugged and helped Mona in, then squeezed in after her.

Mick stepped on the gas again and took off down the highway. The Legends soon found out what he'd meant about the road being afraid of him. He wove between cars, disregarding any lanes, signs, or obstacles in his way. He swerved over a pothole and Mona nervously gripped the egg tighter as she tried not to fall sideways onto Snart. "Mick!" she exclaimed, wrapping the egg in some spare towels for extra padding. "Careful!"

Nate looked out the window and saw the ocean sparkling on the horizon, even if it was partially muted by Zari's winds and Nora's magic. "Oh man," he breathed, "this would be so cool if the timeline and probably a ton of lives weren't in danger!"

The Legends heard sirens behind them. Sara looked into the rearview mirror and saw two police cars gaining on them. "We've got company," she said. "We have to get them off our tail."

"They won't outrun me," Mick declared confidently, swerving around a curve in the road with exactly zero interest in being careful.

Sara glanced at the rearview mirror again. "Doesn't look like that's working."

"Well, it's not like we can just pull over and explain ourselves," Constantine pointed out. "'Hello, officer, we're time travelers from the future chasing a dinosaur down the Pacific Coast Highway to save Santa Monica Pier from imminent destruction.' Bloody brilliant!"

Sara turned around to look at the passengers behind her. Her eyes rested on Snart's cold gun, then rose to meet his, holding eye contact for a few seconds. He nodded, understanding her silently. "Don't hit any people," she told him. "Just the road."

"If you say so," Snart replied. He took the cold gun in his hand and climbed over the seats and into the back. The station wagon had a third row of seats facing backward toward the trunk door, which swung outward when opened. Leonard looked out the back window at the approaching police cars and put on his dark goggles.

Nate noticed what he was doing and climbed back to join him. "Snart," he said, catching the thief's attention, "you can't shoot if you're holding the door."

Leonard raised an eyebrow curiously. "And?"

"You're playing by your rules," he said. "I want to help."

Leonard stared at him blankly for a second, honestly surprised. Finally, he smirked. "Let's see if L.A. cops know how to drive on ice."

Nate turned the door handle and forced it open, holding it in place with his arm. Leonard fired a continuous blast of ice that hit the road a few feet behind them. As they drove, it created a shiny, slick mass coating the highway. The police cars skidded to a halt as they came into contact with the suddenly icy surface. Leonard pulled back his gun and ducked back inside the station wagon. Nate shut the back door firmly and grinned at him.

"Dude!" he exclaimed. "That was epic!" He glanced back over his shoulder at the back window. "I mean…assuming those guys are all okay."

Leonard shrugged. "It's just a little ice. They'll be fine."

"It'll melt soon anyway, won't it?" Constantine pointed out. "It's nearly twenty-seven degrees out."

Mona raised her eyebrows, looking at him questioningly. "Twenty-seven? What are you talking about?"

Constantine rolled his eyes and slumped back in his seat. "Sometimes I forget I work with a bunch of Yanks," he muttered. "Can't you lot use the same system as the rest of the world for once?"

"Clam it, Englishman!" Mick grunted.

Sara looked out the window and spotted the outline of the dinosaur's shape crossing the beach closest to them. "It's almost to the pier," she said worriedly.

Mick nodded. "Hang on!" Somehow, though exactly how was a mystery to the Legends in the car, Mick sped up even further and charged forward even more recklessly in the direction of the pier.

* * *

Charlie unlocked the gate to the private beach and stepped inside. There were beach chairs and tables set out, along with mostly unopened beach umbrellas. It wasn't particularly busy at the moment, so she didn't have to worry too much about remaining unseen. She noticed a lifeguard's tower close to the water's edge and sprinted over to it. Luckily for her, it was empty. The posted schedule beside it said that the lifeguard would be back in ten minutes. "Plenty of time," Charlie said to herself as she climbed the ladder.

Reaching the top of the tower, she scanned the horizon with her eyes, trying to spot any sign of strange currents. Not being an expert on the topic, she found it difficult to identify anything unusual. She was far enough from Zari and Nora for the water not to be affected by their storm, so everything looked fairly calm and quiet, aside from the occasional wave that started in the distance and eventually landed on the sand. Every now and then, a few seagulls would fly out over the water, then return to shore.

Then, Charlie did notice something. While the seagulls seemed comfortable flying over every part of the water, there was one spot in the distance that they always seemed to avoid. She turned around and searched through the lifeguard's supplies until she found a pair of binoculars. She removed her sunglasses and peered through the binoculars, adjusting them to focus on that spot. It looked like a miniature whirlpool had formed, creating ripples in all directions. "Thar she blows," Charlie said with a grin.

She hopped down to the ground and looked around. The rift, assuming that was what it was, was too far out for her to swim to. She spied an abandoned surfboard lying on the sand. She hesitated, then picked it up and dragged it into the water. "Can't be too hard," she assured herself. "Kids do it, don't they?"

She walked out until the water reached her waist, then climbed on top of the board. She tapped her pocket, making sure Ray's temporal energy gun – currently miniaturized – was still inside. After a few moments of struggle, she knelt down with her knees on the surfboard and found her balance, then began to paddle with her hands, propelling herself out into the ocean.

A wave began to form a short distance in front of her. Not knowing what to do, she quickly tried to paddle out of its way. She wasn't fast enough. The wave crashed into her. She fell into the churning waters, separated from the board. When she finally resurfaced, gasping for air, she spotted it floating about a foot away. She hastily swam over to it and climbed back on, gripping the edges of it tightly.

She spat out some salty ocean water and set her eyes on the whirlpool, now a little less distant. "You've got this," she told herself. "Come on, Charlie!"

She paddled out again, trying to keep the front of the board aimed at the whirlpool. Another wave began to form in her path. This time, she lay down on the board, held onto its sides, held her breath, and dove down underneath the wave. It passed over her and she resurfaced on the other side, still holding on. She looked back triumphantly as it crashed against the shore. "Ha! Thought you'd got the best of me, didn't you?"

She continued paddling and, a few minutes later, found herself within range of the whirlpool. It was small enough not to be obvious from the beach, but now that she was close to it, it seemed much bigger. The center of the whirlpool appeared to be softly glowing an otherworldly hue. _I'm not sure what a rift looks like,_ she thought, _but that seems about right._

She sat up on the surfboard, trying to stay in place as much as she could to avoid being drawn into the whirlpool. She plucked the temporal energy gun out of her pocket and hit the tiny red button on the side, growing it into a normal-sized gun. Its center glowed with golden temporal energy. Charlie squinted, aimed it carefully, and shot it into the whirlpool's center.

A flash of gold light blinded her as she was thrown off her board. The rift absorbed the energy and shut itself down instantly. The sudden change sent choppy, rippling waves in all directions. Charlie fought to keep her head above the water until she reached the board again. She held onto it tightly until the waves ceased. Then, she climbed on top and paddled into the spot where the whirlpool had been. No trace of it was left.

"Yes!" Charlie pumped her fist in the air, holding up the gun victoriously. "You're welcome, timeline!" She spoke into her comms, "Rift closed, ladies and gents! Have you caught the T-Rex yet?"

"Not…quite…" Ray replied as he flew through the air. "Almost…got it…nope! She shook me off."

"Bollocks," Charlie muttered. "Don't worry, mates, I'll be there in a jiff." She turned the board around and began paddling toward the shore.

* * *

The station wagon skidded to a halt in the Santa Monica Pier parking lot. The Legends bolted out of the car. Or, most of them did. Mona lagged behind due to the ginormous egg in her arms.

"Hey!" a parking attendant shouted. "You have to pay to park here!"

"Not today we don't!" Mick shouted back. He blasted his heat gun at the nearest sign explaining the parking rates, setting it on fire. The attendant froze in horror as the group got away.

They ran through the pier's entrance and found themselves greeted by restaurants, gift shops, and, and the very end, carnival rides. They continued until they reached the middle of the space and looked around, seeing no imminent threats. "Well," Nate said optimistically, "it looks like we beat the dinosaur here."

Leonard turned toward him. "Why would you say that?" he asked, his annoyance obvious.

Sure enough, the dinosaur reached the pier right behind them. Ray flew through the air and landed on his feet between the group and the T-Rex. He pointed his shrink ray up and fired directly at its head. For a moment, it looked like the shrink ray would work. That moment soon ended. The dinosaur moved its head out of the shrink ray's beam and charged toward Ray. It would have stepped on him, but Nate dove in and pulled him out of the way just in time.

"You okay, buddy?" Nate asked.

"I am," Ray replied, "but I don't think they are." He pointed toward the end of the pier, which the dinosaur was quickly approaching.

Sara turned to him. "Ray, what images did you see of the aberration?"

"There was a newspaper article with a photo of a dinosaur attacking…a Ferris…wheel…oh boy," he said, gasping in horror as he realized what was most likely going to happen next. "Are we doomed?"

"Eh," Constantine said with a shrug, "not like we haven't been before."

Leonard noticed the worry in Sara's eyes and took a step toward her. "Sara, we can still stop this," he told her, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "We can think of something."

Mona finally made it to their location, panting as she arrived. "Whew!" she said, trying to catch her breath. "Guys, I think I saw the dinosaur come in…"

"We know, Mona," Sara replied. "Everybody, head for the Ferris wheel." She turned her head to look directly at Leonard. "We're not doomed yet." She nodded at Mona and the egg. "We've still got the one thing she wants."

The team raced down the pier, pushing past scared visitors who were all running in the opposite direction. Nate turned his body into steel and took advantage of his increased strength to take the egg from Mona, which he was able to carry while keeping up with the group.

"Ray," Sara ordered as she ran, "make sure everyone's off the Ferris wheel!"

"You got it, Captain!" he replied. He took off flying ahead.

The remaining Legends soon reached the Ferris wheel. Its top was over twice the height of the T-Rex, but there was no doubt that the large reptile couldn't still do considerable damage if it wanted to. Thankfully, it was confused enough by its surroundings not to run in a straight path, allowing Ray to evacuate the last passenger and the other Legends to get to the Ferris wheel first.

"Ray," Sara asked into her comms, "which direction did the dinosaur attack from in the photo?"

"The right side," he answered, still flying the last passenger to safety.

The remaining Legends reached the bottom of the ride. "Mona, Constantine," Sara said, "this thing goes clockwise. Get us over the top and onto the right side."

She climbed into the gondola waiting at the bottom. Leonard slid into the seat next to her while Mick and Nate – still holding the egg – took the other side. Mona looked over the controls. She pressed a button to put the wheel in motion. It began to slowly turn. She tried to find a way to speed it up, but none of the options made much of a difference. "Constantine," she said, "I think I could use some help."

"Stand back, sweetheart," he said. He reached over and shut off the controls, then lifted his hands and recited a spell. The wheels began to glow faintly orange as his magic took hold, rotating it faster than before.

Leonard froze as he watched Constantine work his magic, lifting them higher and higher. Sara nudged him. "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights," she teased.

He relaxed. "I'm not," he replied. "It's Constantine's magic I'm still getting used to."

"Yeah, Englishman's weird," Mick said with an understanding nod.

Their gondola rounded the top of the wheel, then began to descend. On the ground, the dinosaur arrived. It nearly stomped on Constantine, who pulled himself and Mona out of the way just in time. Unfortunately for the Legends in the gondola, this brought the wheel to a halt.

"Crap," Nate reacted, looking down at the T-Rex. "What do we do?"

Sara peered over the side of the gondola. "We've got to climb down."

Nate balked. "What?"

She sat back up and faced him. "We need her to see her egg. It'll calm her down long enough for Ray to come back here and get a clean shot. To do that, it has to be at her eye level." She stood up, rocking the gondola slightly in the process. "Come on!"

Sara reached her arms out of the gondola and took hold of one of the metal bars making up the wheel. She swung out and wrapped herself around it, then slid down gracefully until she found her footing on the next bar crossing it. Leonard looked over the side, watching her make it look so effortless. _Amazing,_ he thought.

Nate sighed and tucked the egg into the crook of his arm. "Okay, Eggy," he said to it, "hold on tight."

Mick winced. "Did…did you just name it Eggy?"

"Bigger question is," Leonard added, "why are you talking to it?"

Nate swung over the side without answering. Knowing he wasn't nearly as nimble as his trained assassin captain, he opted not to slide down the rails and instead used the closest one to swing through the air, landing on his feet in the next gondola down. It rocked back and forth. Nate struggled to keep his balance until the rocking eventually subsided.

Mick followed Nate's lead, jumping down into the next gondola. It rocked again. Each man braced himself against an opposite side to balance it. While they did this, Leonard took his cue from Sara and balanced along the nearest spoke of the wheel, then slid down to an intersecting bar and used it to swing into the gondola with Mick and Nate. Sara, very comfortable keeping her balance along the next spoke down, stayed in place, watching the dinosaur as it came closer.

"Constantine's using his magic to keep it from wrecking anything," she informed the others. "So far, it looks like it's working." She watched the dinosaur turn away from John and stomp toward the Ferris wheel. "It's coming this way," she announced, "and we're still too high up." She scooted sideways toward the occupied gondola. "Give me the egg," she said.

Nate noted the dinosaur, now almost close enough to touch the Ferris wheel. He nodded and handed the egg off to Sara. She held it gently with one arm and used the other arm to swing down to the next level of spokes. She slid onto it slowly, shifting her body to adjust for the extra weight of the egg. She glanced down and saw that she was just above the T-Rex's eye level. _Just a little farther,_ she thought as she calculated her next move.

The T-Rex lifted its head and roared at the Ferris wheel, the one object large enough to block its path. Mick and Leonard each pointed their guns over the front of the gondola and shot out long streams of fire and cold, respectively. This kept the creature from attacking but did not deter its attention from the wheel. Sara kicked against the bar she was leaning on and swung onto a lower one, dangling one-handed right at the eye level of the T-Rex. She stared directly into its eyes, letting it see the egg in her arms. "Is this what you're looking for?" she asked without a trace of fear in her voice.

Leonard put down his gun and smiled a little as the scene unfolded. _Only Sara Lance could stare down an angry T-Rex while hanging one-handed off a Ferris wheel,_ he thought. _Amazing. Just amazing._

The attacking reptile paused, recognizing the egg as its own. On the ground, Ray saw its sudden stillness and took his chance. He shot his shrink ray and held it steady. Slowly, the dinosaur shrank down to the size of a mouse. Constantine ran to it and placed a jar over it, then scooped it up and fastened a lid on the jar, poking several airholes to let it breathe. "Brilliant work, mate," he said, smiling at Ray as he passed the jar to him.

While the two of them discussed what to do with the tiny dinosaur now, Sara turned her face up to look at the Legends in the gondola above her. "Mission accomplished," she said, grinning. As she did this, a sudden gust of wind blew in from the ocean. She shifted her body to account for the extra force but felt her hand begin to slip in the process. She looked down at the far away ground, then back up again. "Guys," she said, "I…whoa!" One finger slipped off the bar. "I…I can't hold on," she said, trying to remain calm.

Leonard was not remotely calm. As long as he'd known her, Sara had never feared running headfirst into dangerous situations. All the same, she wasn't supposed to get into danger without any control over getting herself out of it. That just wasn't supposed to happen. Not to Sara. The image of Vandal Savage's knife against her throat flashed through his mind. He gripped the edge of the gondola tightly. "Just…just don't let go," he said, his voice quivering. "We'll get you out of here. Please don't let go."

"I'm not trying to, Leonard," she returned with a playful smirk. Another finger started to slip. The smirk disappeared as she cried out involuntarily, "Ah!"

"Sara!" Leonard exclaimed, leaning further over the front of the gondola. He reached out a hand, but his arm was not long enough to reach her.

Nate stared down at his captain, then straightened up as he got an idea. "Mick, Snart," he said, "I need you guys to lower me down."

"What do mean, Pretty?" Mick asked.

"In my steel form," Nate explained, "I'm strong enough to lift Captain Lance and Eggy at the same time. If both of you hold onto me and lower me out of the gondola, I'll be able to reach down to Captain Lance. Then, you guys can pull both of us up."

Mick nodded gruffly. "Best choice we've got. Snart?"

Leonard hadn't taken his eyes off Sara during the entirety Nate's explanation. He finally turned to look at the historian. "Okay," he said, trying to hide the storm of panic raging inside him.

Leonard and Mick each grabbed hold of Nate's torso and slowly lowered him out of the gondola and down toward Sara. Nate reached his arms out toward her. "Sara," he instructed, "I need you to let go of the bar and take my hand."

Sara closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them. She let go and swung her weight toward him. He caught her arm and held on tight. Leonard and Mick gradually pulled him back into the gondola. His feet landed on the floor and he continued to pull Sara in behind him. As she came closer, Mick reached over and took the massive egg out of her hands to make it easier for her to climb in. Leonard leaned out and held her waist to steady her. Once she was safely inside, she sat down beside Leonard, catching her breath. Leonard just stared at her. He couldn't look away. Not so soon after facing the possibility of losing her. She finally looked back at him and he realized he was still holding onto her. He quickly let go, scooting slightly farther from her in his seat.

"Don't…don't do that again," he said, looking down to avoid eye contact with her.

Nate transformed back to his normal condition. "Safe and sound," he declared with a satisfied smile. "Now all we've got to do is return this duo back to their time and everything will be just fine."

The four Legends' comms buzzed. "What happened?" Ray's voice asked. "I didn't see from down here, but it sounded like there was shouting going on. Are you guys okay?"

"We're okay, Ray," Sara replied. "Just tell Constantine to get us down."

"Okay, Captain!"

Before long, their gondola reached the bottom of the Ferris wheel. The four of them stepped out and joined their teammates. Nate set the egg on the ground beside the jar holding its miniature mother. "I guess we have to carry these back to the Waverider," he said.

They heard a familiar sound and looked up to see the shape of the Waverider hovering above them. "Did someone say Waverider?" Charlie's voice asked, broadcasting into the team's comms from the bridge.

Sara raised her eyebrows, pleasantly surprised. "Actually, yes, someone did."

"Don't tell me I missed the dinosaur fight," Charlie said.

"You did," Mick replied.

"Oh bollocks," Charlie groaned. "Drove all the way out here and we're too late."

Zari's voice, also speaking from the bridge, broke through, "For the record, I did all of the driving. Well, all of the driving that happened after seeing Charlie's technique, at least."

"Yeah," Nora echoed beside her. "Charlie really shouldn't drive anything. Ever. No offense."

"Oi, a 'thank you' would be nice!" Charlie retorted. "I did also manage to close the rift, and that was entirely my 'technique.'"

Sara rolled her eyes but still smiled fondly. Classic Legends bickering. "Whoever's driving," she said, "park somewhere close by. I'll be on board in a second to send these displaced dinosaurs home and check in with Ava."

The Waverider cloaked itself and flew away, locating an ideal parking spot. Sara looked around at the teammates surrounding her. They were all staring expectantly at her. "What?" she asked.

"Well," Ray started, "we were thinking, since we got the anachronism under control…"

"…and the rift is closed…" Mona continued.

"…and someone's got to stick around the pier anyway…" John added.

"…to wipe memories and give excuses if necessary…" Nate said.

No one finished the statement, but Sara already knew what they were thinking. She sighed. "Fine," she said reluctantly. "You can spend the rest of the day hanging out at the pier."

"Yes!" Nate and Ray said in unison, high-fiving each other.

"I'm playing Whack-a-Mole first!" Mona declared, waving her arms excitedly. "Who wants to play me?"

"A game where I get to violently smash everything?" Mick replied. "Count me in, kid."

"Anyone want to dare me to make the carousel horses come off and have minds of their own?" Constantine suggested.

"You can do that?" Nate asked, shocked. "Like Mary Poppins?"

Constantine shrugged. "I don't know. Never done it. Just asking if you'd dare me to."

"Children," Sara muttered. "Actual children." She let them continue their discussion of carnival games and rides as she picked up the egg and jar and walked away toward the Waverider's new location.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one! It took a while to post this chapter because it was so long. I tried to capture the level of insanity usually present on Legends' missions so I hope I did their craziness justice :)**


	17. Leopard Snart

Santa Monica Pier was once again filled with people taking advantage of the long summer afternoon. Most of them were either oblivious to what had happened earlier that day with the dinosaur, or they had been made oblivious thanks to one of the Legends' memory flashers. There was, however, one security guard who seemed to suspect something. He stood beside Zari and Nate, scratching his head.

"So…there were a ton of people here earlier today," he said, slowly processing it, "and then there suddenly weren't any. Except you guys, for some reason."

"Exactly," Nate replied.

The man frowned, still confused. "Then why can't I remember why? In fact, why can't I remember anything that happened for about an hour of the day?"

"I don't know," Zari said. "Might want to get that checked out."

"Huh." He looked around, bewildered. "I feel like there was something wrong with the Ferris wheel…"

Nate quickly pulled out his flasher and wiped the man's memory.

"Nate!" Zari exclaimed. "We already did that!"

"Well, clearly, he was starting to figure it out," Nate argued.

"That doesn't mean you flash him twice," she hissed back. "You know how confused people can get if you flash them too many times in a row."

"Look at him," Nate replied. "He looks fine!"

The man blinked and squinted at the two strangers in front of him. "What…what just happened? Who are you?"

Zari spoke up first, thinking quickly of an excuse. "We're from Columbia Pictures," she said, extending her hand to shake his. "We used the pier as a set for an hour this afternoon. Thanks for letting us clear everyone out to film. I know the afternoon is peak timing."

"Oh…uh…yeah," the security guard said, nodding as he pretended to understand. "Columbia Pictures. Of course." He definitely didn't remember what they were talking about, but his mind was beginning to fill in the gaps. "I…uh…look forward to seeing the movie."

"We appreciate that, sir," Nate replied politely.

The two of them hurried away, eager to rush out of the situation before the guard could ask any more questions that could poke holes in Zari's story.

Meanwhile, Constantine leaned back again the railing on the pier, looking out at the open ocean. He pulled out a cigarette and began to light it. However, the moment it touched his lips, Ray reached over and pulled it away.

"Oh, come on, mate," Constantine groaned. "It's the sixties. Everyone smokes. They thought it was healthy. Let me fit in with the time period, all right?"

"Doesn't make it good for you," Ray pointed out. "And, actually, doctors figured out it was unhealthy in the mid-fifties, so you're a decade late for that excuse."

Constantine rolled his eyes. "You've been hanging out with your historian friend too much."

Charlie ran out from the crowd, waving one hand as a greeting and dragging Nora along with the other one. "Ray! John!" she announced. "We're taking Nora on the rollercoaster!"

Constantine tilted his head and looked at her confusedly. "We're what, love?"

Nora calmly explained, "I may have told Charlie that I've never been on a rollercoaster before."

"A bloody injustice," Charlie declared.

"Wait, really?" Ray asked. "Not ever?"

Nora shrugged. "The Order of the Shrouded Compass wasn't big on amusement park trips."

Charlie wrapped her arm around Nora's shoulder and gave her a friendly squeeze. "Which is why we're taking her on the one here," she said. "It's not very big by rollercoaster standards, so perfect for a first try. I'm telling you, Nora, it'll blow your magic mind!" She opened her hand to mime an explosion with an accompanying sound effect.

"You all can go," Constantine said. "I think I'll stick around here."

Ray frowned. "John, are you trying to get rid of us so you can get away with smoking while we're gone?"

Constantine waited a moment before answering, "No."

Charlie shook her head. "Oh, I'm sure he is."

"Well, in that case," Ray said, grabbing Constantine's arm, "you're definitely coming with us. This is for your own health, John."

"Fine," he agreed in a reluctant tone, although he was secretly a bit interested in the rollercoaster. "But if any of you throw up, I reserve the right to mock you."

While the four of them ran off to get in line, Mona and Mick pounded their mallets all over the Whack-a-Mole game. Leonard stood slightly away from them, arms crossed, leaning back against the wall of the gift shop next to the game booth. The two contestants were very loud and enthusiastic about their game. Leonard, on the other hand, observed in silence. Finally, the buzzer blared, and a victor was determined.

"Yes!" Mona exclaimed, laying down her mallet. The game attendant showed her a selection of toys and she selected a stuffed wolf.

Mick dropped his mallet on the table roughly. "This game is stupid."

"That's not what you said when she suggested it," Leonard drawled just loudly enough for his teammates to hear.

Mick and Mona walked over to where he was standing. "Do you want to play something, Mr. Snart?" Mona asked with a sweet smile. "Or go on any rides?"

"This isn't exactly my scene," Leonard replied. He looked around for a second, then asked, "Is Sara still on the ship?"

"Yeah," Mick answered. "She's got to get the dinosaur back home."

"And update Ava," Mona added.

"Ava," Leonard repeated. He glanced down at the ground, thinking. "What's she like?"

"She's a clone," Mick said. Mona slapped his arm. "Hey! What was that for?"

She pointed a finger at him and scowled. "You know she hates it when you call her that."

"She's not here, is she?" he retorted.

Mona shot Mick a disapproving look, then turned to face Leonard. "Ava's cool," she said. "I like her. She can be strict sometimes, but she's pretty nice once you get to know her. She and Sara had this kind of opposites-attract thing going, but they're not together anymore. I don't know why, though. They seemed pretty cute to me."

Leonard nodded, taking in the information. He could feel the strange feelings from the day before returning but tried to appear as unemotional as possible. "Interesting," he said simply. He paused, then added, "And she's our contact with the Time Masters now, right?"

"Time _Bureau_," Mona corrected him. "But yes."

He nodded again, but this time said nothing.

Zari and Nate rounded a corner and spotted the two rogues and Mona. "Oh, hey, guys!" Nate exclaimed, waving at them as the two of them walked over. "What's up?"

Mona held up her stuffed wolf. "I beat Mick!"

Zari laughed. "Ha! Nice!"

Mick clenched his fists. "It was a dumb game. I could win at something else."

Nate spotted another booth behind them. "Like that one?" he asked, pointing at it. "It looks like one of those little shooter games where you try to hit the target. Pew pew!" He pointed two finger guns at Zari and mimed shooting them. She sighed, then reluctantly smiled a little at his dorkiness.

Mona smiled. "I think I'm going to take a break, but maybe someone else can play. I vote Mr. Snart."

Four pairs of eyes turned to look at Snart. He waited for them to look away. When they didn't, he responded, "Why?"

"Why not?" Mona asked.

Mick smirked. "Afraid you'll lose?"

"Oh, I'm not afraid of that at all," Leonard returned.

"Then do it," Zari said. "Or would you rather stand in the corner being grumpy and broody all day?"

"I think I'll go back to the ship," Snart said quietly, turning to leave. Mona stepped in his way. He stopped, surprised. "Move," he told her firmly.

"No." She crossed her arms defiantly. "We just had a successful mission and we're celebrating by having fun. You're one of us now, so that means you get to have fun with us. That's how this works."

"Get to?" Snart asked. "Why does it sound like it's not optional?"

"Come on, man," Nate said. "It's a bonding thing. Plus, I think I speak for everyone here when I say, who wouldn't want to watch the notorious Captain Cold totally crush it at a carnival game?"

Zari nodded. "It's true."

"Or crash and burn, if he's competing with me," Mick added. Snart glared at him.

"Play one game with Mick and we'll get out of your hair," Mona suggested. When Snart didn't immediately answer, she began to chant softly, "Captain Cold! Captain Cold! Captain Cold!"

Leonard shook his head. "You do know this won't work, right?"

Nate joined in. "Captain Cold! Captain Cold!"

"Do I need to remind you that I'm carrying a very dangerous weapon right now?"

Zari also joined the chant. "Captain Cold! Captain Cold! Captain Cold!"

Leonard turned to Mick. "At least you're not part of this."

Mick looked back at him. Slowly, a mischievous grin spread across his face as he began to chant, "Captain Cold! Captain Cold!"

Leonard groaned and leaned his head back against the wall as the chants continued. _When is Sara getting back?_ he thought. _This would be at least slightly more tolerable with her. How long does she need to talk to Ava anyway?_ He refocused on the present moment and held up a hand to silence the four Legends surrounding him. "Fine. I'll play one game if you'll all shut up."

He walked over to the game. Nate handed the attendant two tokens to set it up while Leonard and Mick each sat down in front of a station. The attendant explained, "Okay, gentlemen, what you've got to do is shoot your gun at the targets that pop up. They'll move around, so keep your eyes open. Top score wins a prize."

"Whatever," Snart said, just wanting to get it over with.

"On your marks, get set, go!"

Tiny plastic balls shot out of the guns in front of Leonard and Mick, most of them bouncing against their targets. The other three Legends stood behind them and cheered them on. Finally, time ran out and a buzzer went off. The attendant looked at the scores. "Wow!" he said cheerfully. "That was really close, but I have to give it to…you!" He pointed at Leonard, who didn't seem very excited to win.

Zari, Nate, and Mona crowded around Leonard and Mick. "Ooh, sorry Mick," Zari teased. "Looks like Snart's not the one who crashed and burned this time."

Mick scowled at her. "I went easy on him."

"Sure you did," Zari said, not sounding convinced at all.

Leonard stood up. "Okay, I did what you wanted," he said. "I hope you're happy." He turned and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Mona called after him. "You haven't picked your prize yet!"

"You guys can pick whatever you want," he replied without looking back.

Nate put a hand on Zari's shoulder. "Can you give us a second?" he asked. "I need to talk to him."

She nodded. "Sure."

Nate smiled and walked briskly away until he caught up with Snart. He stood in front of him, forcing Leonard to stop in his path. "Hey, man," he said. "About today…"

"What about it?" Snart replied.

"I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page," Nate said. "I know I said a lot of stuff in the cave, and maybe wasn't the best teammate ever in the bar, but I really think we made progress today."

"Progress?"

"Yeah. On listening to and trusting each other. I think getting everything out in the open helped, you know?"

Leonard shrugged. "Maybe."

"Definitely," Nate said with confidence. "I helped you out with icing the road, you listened to me on the Ferris wheel…I think we're in a good place. I just want to make sure you think so too. Are we good?"

Leonard looked away, then back at Nate. He had to give him some credit. If not for Nate's idea on the Ferris wheel, Sara might not have made it. He felt he owed him some level of respect for his part in saving her. "We're good," Snart replied.

Nate grinned and opened his arms. "All right! Now, how about that bro hug?"

_He really isn't making it easy to respect him_, Leonard thought. "We're not there," he said.

"That's okay," Nate said. "I get it. Baby steps." He lifted one hand. "High five?"

Leonard simply turned around and walked away, saying nothing.

"Come on, Snart!" Nate called after him. "Don't leave me hanging!"

Leonard rolled his eyes and kept walking. He turned a corner and ran right into Mona. "Mr. Snart!" she exclaimed. "There you are! I was going to give you this." She held out a small stuffed animal. It was a snow leopard.

Leonard looked at it quizzically. "Why are you giving me this?"

"Because you won it," she explained. "We decided on this one because it was the only cold climate animal they had. Makes sense, right? Since you're Captain Cold and everything."

Leonard couldn't help feeling a little amused. "That's cute," he drawled with the faintest hint of a smile. "Where's Mick?"

"Challenging Zari to another round," she answered.

"Ah. Makes sense."

Ray, Nora, Charlie, and John spotted Mona and Leonard as they exited the rollercoaster and hurried over to join them. "Hey, Mona! Hey, Snart!" Ray said, waving enthusiastically.

"Hello, Raymond," Snart replied with significantly less enthusiasm.

Mona turned toward him. "What have you guys been up to?" she asked.

"Taking Nora on her first ever rollercoaster ride," Charlie answered. She wrapped one arm around Nora's shoulders. "So, what did you think, mate?"

Nora laughed. "Actually, it was pretty fun. The part where it dropped was kind of scary when it happened, but in a thrilling way, not a bad way."

"See? I knew you'd like it," Charlie said.

"And Ray didn't even throw up," John added.

"Hey!" Ray exclaimed. "Why would you expect me to throw up? I've been on tons of rollercoasters before."

John shrugged. "I don't know. You just seemed the most likely out of the four of us to do that."

Charlie turned to Leonard and Mona. "You two want to give it a try? The line's not so long now. We could all go again together."

"Well," Nora said before the other two Legends could answer, "not all of us. It's almost sunset." She smiled sweetly at Ray. "I think I'd like to find a good view."

Her boyfriend smiled back at her. "If we get on the Ferris wheel now, we'll be at the top just as the sun hits the water."

She took his hand in hers. "Perfect." The two of them ran off toward the end of the pier.

"Aw," Mona cooed. "How romantic."

_I still don't understand how this is a thing_, Leonard thought as Nora and Ray disappeared into the crowd, still hand in hand and beaming at each other.

"I'll go on the rollercoaster with you, Charlie," Mona offered. "I haven't been on one in a while. It sounds fun!"

"Brilliant," Charlie replied. "And John, you're coming too."

John looked at her with surprise. "I am?"

"You are."

"Why?"

"Because you had fun the first time, you don't seem to have any other plans, and, like Ray said, you can't smoke on a rollercoaster."

John stepped back, offended. "Are you really siding with Ray on this, love?"

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't care," Charlie admitted, "but you're the only other Brit I've got on the ship. Can't let you smoke yourself to death and leave me alone with all these Americans, now, can I?"

John thought about it and eventually conceded, "All right, I'll give it one more go."

"Yes!" Charlie exclaimed, pumping her fist. She turned to Leonard. "You in, mate?"

He shook his head. "I think I'll pass."

"But…" Mona started to protest.

"Your persistence is adorable," Leonard interrupted, "but I think I'm done here. Tell Mick I went back to the ship." He turned to leave.

As he headed toward the exit, Mona ran after him. "Wait! Mr. Snart!"

He stopped and turned around to face her. "Look, you can drop the 'mister', okay? The only people to call me that were Stein and Rip."

"Sorry," she said. "I just didn't want to assume. I barely know you, after all."

"Well, now you know me. What is it?"

She held out the stuffed leopard. "You forgot this."

He stared at it. "What am I going to do with that?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "But it's yours, so it's up to you." Before he could argue, she handed it off to him and sprinted away to join Charlie and Constantine again. "Bye, Snart!"

He looked down at the toy in his hands. "So…I guess I have a stuffed leopard now?" He stared at it for a second. "Cute." He stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket and turned around again to leave the pier.

* * *

"So, Ray's device worked, then," Ava said through the screen in the Waverider's parlor.

Sara nodded. "Yep. He's calling it a temporal energy gun."

"Sounds like something he'd come up with," Ava replied. "Well, it looks like the rift is safely closed, and within a reasonable amount of time. You can tell your crew that they did a good job."

Sara relaxed her posture, relieved. "Thank you, Director Sharpe. I'm sure they'll appreciate hearing that."

"I'm not finished, Captain Lance," Ava added with a stern look. "The Legends did a good job, but I do think you need to be more careful on future missions."

Sara crossed her arms. "More careful? Why do you say that?"

"Captain Lance, you may have contained the anachronism and closed the rift, but you also allowed a T-Rex to charge down nearly twenty miles of coastline in the middle of 1966. Thankfully, you were able to drive away most of the potential witnesses, but next time, that might not be as easy to do."

Sara's defenses began to go up. She took a deep breath, forcing herself not to react too quickly. "Do you think my team acted recklessly, Director Sharpe?" she asked as calmly as she could.

Ava waited a moment before answering. She hesitated, looking down at her desk. "No," she answered, finally looking back up. "I do not. I am sure it was the best you could do in that situation. I just ask that you use extra caution in the future." She looked away uncomfortably, then added, "I don't mean to sound harsh, Captain Lance, but this isn't a simple string of anachronisms we're dealing with. The fabric of time itself is unraveling as we speak, and the Time Bureau still has no idea why."

"They don't?" Sara asked anxiously. "No clues at all?"

"None yet. But anyway, you must understand why I'm emphasizing caution. There could be something much bigger going on here. The stakes are high enough as it is, and on top of that, there's so much we just don't know."

Sara glanced away awkwardly. "Yes. So much."

Ava noticed Sara's strange mannerisms and raised an eyebrow. "Captain," she asked, her words slow and measured, "you wouldn't happen to know anything about where these rifts are coming from, would you?"

"No," Sara answered a little too quickly. "Why would I know that?"

Ava leaned in closer to her screen, studying Sara's face. "No…of course you wouldn't. No one else does. Why would you?" She relaxed and sat back in her seat. "But if you do find anything out, tell me immediately."

"Understood," Sara replied.

"Good. I'll update you if there are any new developments on my end. Tell Ray to send me the design for his temporal energy gun first thing tomorrow morning. If we can reproduce it for our agents, then we might actually be able to make a dent in all these rifts."

"Will do."

"Thank you, Captain Lance. That is all."

"Goodbye, Director Sharpe."

The screen went dark as both parties hung up. Sara leaned back against her desk and sighed, thinking over everything that had been said. _She said she wasn't calling us reckless_, she thought, _but she might as well have. Just wait until she finds out we created the rifts. That'll be a fun day._

"So…that's Ava?" Leonard Snart asked as he appeared beside the parlor's entrance. "Funny, she doesn't look like a Time Master to me."

Sara jumped in surprise. "Leonard! What are you doing here? I thought you were hanging out at the pier with the others."

"I was," he said with a shrug. "Thought I'd rather be here."

Sara glanced nervously at the dark screen on the wall. "How long were you standing there?"

"Not long," he answered. "But I think I can guess your next question, and no, she didn't see me. I was out of view the whole time. Although, that brings me to something else." He took a step closer, still not quite entering the parlor. "She doesn't know I'm alive, does she?"

Sara hesitated. "Well…not exactly…no."

Leonard smirked. "Wow," he drawled. "Didn't realize you were so embarrassed of me."

"That's not why, Leonard."

He sank down to sit on the steps at the parlor's entrance. "I know. It's not me you're embarrassed about. It's what you had to do to get me here." He looked up at her. "Am I right, Captain?"

Sara walked over to the steps and sat down beside him. "More or less," she said. "This isn't the first time the Legends have messed up the timeline trying to do something good. We tend to solve one problem by creating another. I would argue that whatever problems we create are usually justified, but the Time Bureau hasn't always approved."

"And you don't want Ava to disapprove."

Sara stiffened and looked back up at him, searching his face for any sign of resentment. She was relieved not to see any, although she thought she could still see that same tiniest, barely noticeable hint of sadness in his eyes. Again, she hoped she was imagining it. "I don't," she answered. "We're in a really weird place. I just don't want to look like a failure to her right now. It's not like I'm never going to tell her. When the time is right, I really do plan on explaining everything. Just not yet." She sighed and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "What am I doing? Complaining to you about my mess of a life right after getting you back from the dead? I'd imagine hearing about whatever stupid drama I've gotten myself into with Ava is the last thing you want to spend your big second chance doing."

"Hey, I don't mind," Leonard assured her. "What's the point of being alive if I don't get to listen to you vent?" He leaned toward her and smirked, hoping to get a laugh. When he didn't hear one, he moved closer to her, adjusting his posture so he could look directly into her eyes. "Sara, don't worry about it," he said softly. "I'm sure you'll figure out the right way to tell Ava about all this. And, worst case scenario, if it goes badly, I'll have your back."

She smiled at him, comforted by the sincerity in his voice. "You really mean that?"

"For better or for worse," he replied with a playful smile.

She felt chills. For better or for worse. She hadn't heard someone say those words to her in a long time, and they sounded so perfect in Leonard's voice. He'd said the same phrase to her that first day on the Waverider after listening to her argue that the Legends could change the world and their fate. In hindsight, she'd sometimes wondered if he'd meant something more with that specific choice of words. Of course, after the Oculus, she'd tried to avoid wondering anything about Leonard if she could help it. Now that he was back, it was another story.

The two of them sat in silence for a while. Sara continued to smile but shifted her gaze back to the floor. "I just need to stay focused," she said. "The faster we make progress with the rifts, the easier it'll be to talk to her about it. That has to be the priority right now."

Leonard watched her smile slowly fade as she spoke. There had to be something that could get her to smile again. He got an idea. "If it helps," he said, breaking the silence, "I brought you something that might cheer you up."

She sat up and looked at him, surprised. "Oh? And what would that be?"

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the stuffed leopard. "It's for you."

She stared at it amusedly, trying not to laugh at the sight of the hardened criminal holding a stuffed animal clearly intended for a child. Ultimately, she was unsuccessful and dissolved into giggles.

_It worked_, Leonard thought, a bit proud of himself.

She finally stopped laughing but continued to grin. "What are you doing, Leonard?" she asked, clearly entertained.

"Giving you a stuffed snow leopard. I feel like that should be obvious."

"Why do you even have one?"

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering."

She laughed again, then asked, "Okay, but why are you giving it to me?"

He shrugged as he placed the toy in her hands. "It's cute. You like cute things, don't you?"

"I guess so."

"Then, it's yours. Mazel tov."

Sara shook her head. "You're crazy, you know that?"

_Just crazy about you_, he thought silently, resisting the temptation to say it out loud. Three years ago, he might've said it. But now, Sara had said she didn't want to be anything with anyone. He had a feeling that saying something like that would be too much for her now, no matter how true it was. "I've been called worse things," he said instead.

Sara held up the stuffed animal in her hands and examined it carefully. "It is cute," she admitted. "I think I'll keep it." She turned to face him again with a mischievous look on her face. "And I think I know what I'm going to name it."

"Do tell," he drawled.

She smirked teasingly. "Leopard Snart."

Leonard stared forward blankly for a moment. "Wow, that is…terrible."

Sara noted his reaction and thought it was hilarious. "It's my snow leopard," she argued. "I can call it whatever I want. And I'm calling it Leopard Snart."

He sighed and placed his elbows on the top step, leaning back. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not. I think it's funny."

"Seriously?"

"Well, why not?" she asked, leaning toward him. Her smile was a little more genuine-looking now. "Besides, I like that name." She leaned in even closer. "I think it has a nice sound to it."

He felt his heart begin to beat faster as he looked at her face, only a few inches away from his. _I could kiss her right now_, he thought. _She's so close. I could just kiss her. But there's no way she wants me to. Not now. She's obviously still thinking about Ava. But if she did want me to…_ He unconsciously let his gaze focus on her lips. _Oh, I really wish she wanted me to._

The moment was broken by the sudden entrance of Nate, Zari, Ray, and Nora. "Hey! Captain Lance!" Nate greeted cheerfully. "What's up? Oh, there you are, Snart."

Sara sat up, paying full attention to her other teammates. Leonard frowned, more than a little annoyed. _Again, really not making it easy to respect him_, he thought.

"Are we interrupting something?" Nora asked. The genuine innocence in her tone indicated that it was an honest question, not a suspicious interrogation.

"No, not at all," Sara answered.

_A little_, Snart thought, though he said nothing out loud.

"You guys missed the sunset," Ray said, "but it looked so nice out over the ocean. Nora and I watched it from the Ferris wheel, and Zari and Nate watched it from the beach." He sighed happily. "Man, this has been a fun day. Other than, you know, the angry mother T-Rex."

"Agreed," Nate said with a nod. "I say we keep the vibe going. Gideon!" He looked up toward a vague section of the ceiling. "Put my Beach Boys playlist on shuffle through the Waverider's interior speakers."

"Yes, Dr. Heywood," Gideon responded. "Shuffling songs now."

Zari turned to him. "You have a Beach Boys playlist?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, what else am I going to listen to when we're unexpectedly at the beach in the sixties?" he asked. "The answer is probably Elvis, but hey, I like to be prepared."

The tune of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" began to play through the speaker system. Zari listened for a moment. "Okay, I'll admit it," she said. "They sound pretty good."

"Classic for a reason," Nate replied. He paused, listening to the faint sounds of footsteps down the nearest corridor. "I think the others are back. Let's see what they're up to. I want to know how many times Charlie made Constantine get on the rollercoaster."

"Ditto," Nora agreed.

The group walked away. Sara turned to Leonard once they were out of sight. "So, Charlie took Constantine on the rollercoaster a million times? Sounds about right." She stood up. "I forgot to ask Ray about the design for his temporal energy gun. I'd better go get it from him. Later, Leonard." She flashed a mischievous grin at him as she walked away, still carrying the stuffed animal in her hands.

Leonard watched her leave as Nate's music continued to play in the background. He smiled wistfully as she disappeared into the corridor, then sat still, thinking silently.

Mick poked his head around the corner and spotted Leonard sitting on the steps. "Hey," he said simply.

"Hey yourself," Leonard replied.

Mick leaned against the wall, still looking at his partner. "You gave it to her, didn't you?"

Leonard looked up at him. "What else was I going to do with it?"

"Hm…" Mick said, looking away as he thought. Eventually, he turned back to Leonard. "And you were just itching to get back here, weren't you?" No response. "You…uh…want to talk about it?"

Leonard stood up. "There's nothing to talk about, Mick," he said. He stepped around him and exited the bridge.

Mick sighed and shook his head. "I know I'm the dumb one," he muttered to himself, "but that doesn't mean I'm stupid." Still, he knew chasing after Leonard and forcing the issue wouldn't help. He stomped up the stairs, pulled up a chair, and ordered Gideon to turn on the TV.


	18. A Mystery in London

Zari strolled into the kitchen and noticed Nora sitting at the table, reading a very old-looking book. "What's up?" Zari greeted her as she pressed the necessary buttons to prepare her breakfast.

Nora looked up from her book. "Oh, hey Z." She looked back down and turned the page, clearly very focused.

Zari folded her arms and studied her teammate. "Is that for that book club thing you guys do?"

"This? Oh, no." Nora looked up again, this time actually turning her head to face Zari. "Book Club hasn't met in a while, and we can't meet unless we have a quorum, which is pretty hard without Sara or Ava, even though Gary will not leave me alone about it…but anyway, no. It's one of Constantine's magic books. I'm just borrowing it to look some things up."

Zari's pancakes were ready. She picked up the plate, drizzled some syrup over them, and sat down beside Nora. "So…what are you looking up?"

"I…I'm not actually sure," Nora replied. Zari took a bite of her pancakes, then gave Nora a look asking for more information. "I'm just trying to see if there's anything evil that could potentially get through the timeline. Again." She paused, then elaborated, "I mean, obviously, something can. That's always a possibility when the timeline's in bad shape. I just want to know if there's anything we should be expecting, like an entity that's specifically drawn to rifts in the timeline."

"Found any?"

"Nothing that seems more likely than anything else." She shut the book and sighed. "Maybe I'm being paranoid, but if there's another Mallus or Neron out there…I just feel like I've spent most of my life on that side, and I haven't exactly made things easy for the Legends. If there is some big bad thing, person, monster, or any other kind of being that we'll end up fighting, then taking care of it early might start to make up for all the rest of the crap I've done."

Zari nodded thoughtfully as she chewed. Finally, she said, "Dude, it's cool. You're a good guy now, and one of us. No one's asking you to make up for anything."

"But I want to," Nora emphasized. "I need to be a good teammate, Z."

Zari looked at Nora silently for a moment, then replied, "You seem pretty good to me."

Their conversation was interrupted by Charlie, who burst into the room with headphones over her ears, her arms miming the motions of a guitar player, her head nodding in time with the music, and her body rocking in all directions. She spun through the kitchen like a whirlwind, not even noticing the other two Legends until she nearly crashed into the table. She removed the headphones from her ears and let them hang around her neck. "I was just talking to Wally," she said, "and he told me about this new band. I thought they would be rubbish, but they're actually pretty brilliant. Want a listen?"

Zari rolled her eyes. "And the Rocket Fuel duo's hijinks continue."

"Oi," Charlie replied, "don't forget our 'hijinks' saved a certain Legend's life just a bit ago."

"There were several other steps involved," Zari reminded her.

"Maybe," Charlie admitted as she slid into the open chair closest to Zari, "but it was Wally and I who got the ball rolling, as they say. We're like your inspiration. Artists need muses. Legends need a speedster, a shapeshifter, and a flask of Rocket Fuel."

"Sure," Zari said sarcastically, returning her attention back to her pancakes.

"Well, as Wally says," Charlie teased, "haters gonna hate." She looked over at Nora. "And what are you up to, Miss Magic?"

"Just trying to get a jump on the bad guys," Nora replied, "if there are any."

"Bad guys?" Charlie echoed, confused.

"Like Neron," Zari clarified. "Or Mallus. Or Vandal what's-his-face."

"Savage," Nora corrected her. "His name was Vandal Savage."

"Hey, you try remembering everything you're told after having your entire lifetime's memories altered. Twice." Zari pointed her fork at Nora for emphasis, then used it to take another bite of her pancakes.

Just then, Mona skipped into the room. "Good morning, Legends!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Guess what?" She joined them at the table, grinning as she gushed, "I just finished Rebecca Silver's latest book. That ending? Unbelievable! I am literally on the edge of my seat for the sequel. Literally. Edge of my seat."

Nora placed her hands over her ears. "No spoilers, Mona," she said.

"Why do you still say, 'Rebecca Silver'?" Zari asked. "We all know it's Mick. He's probably typing up the sequel in his room right now."

"As long as Mick wants to use a pseudonym," Mona answered, "I'm going to honor his wishes." She set her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. "But this means I won't have any vicarious feels until he's done writing the next one. Ugh, what am I supposed to obsess over now?"

"Music," Charlie proposed.

"A different book," Nora suggested.

"Literally anything else," Zari answered.

"Guys, you know I'm all about romance," Mona argued. "The drama, the emotional confession, the heartbreak, the heroic rescue, the joyful reunion, the feels…oh, the feels!"

"Yeah, well, tell your 'feels' to latch onto something else until Mick writes another novel," Zari told her.

Gideon's voice blared through the kitchen, "Pardon me, Miss Tomaz, Miss Wu, Miss Darhk, and Miss Charlie. Captain Lance requests all Legends to report to the bridge."

"Guess your 'feels' will have to wait, mate," Charlie said, standing up.

"I wonder what corner of history we're going to get mixed up in this time?" Zari deadpanned as the group exited the room, heading together for the bridge.

* * *

Sara and Leonard were already standing at the central console when the rest of the Legends arrived. Sara was in the middle of telling a story. Leonard stood beside her, leaning down to her eye level with his elbows against the console, giving her his undivided attention. "And that's how we defeated Mallus," Sara said, concluding her story as the others filed in.

"A giant Beebo?" Leonard deadpanned, sounding very unconvinced. "Really?"

"That's right. It's the shape we all thought of. Well, Nate first. Then the rest of us."

Leonard's brow furrowed as he tried to understand. "You could have turned into anything in the world, anything at all, and you guys picked…_Beebo_?"

Sara shrugged. "Honestly, that's pretty on brand for us these days." She looked up and saw the rest of the team gathered around her. "Okay, Legends," she said, now speaking louder to get their attention, "we've got another rift to fix. We don't know what anachronism has gotten through, but we do have a location." She tapped on the console and revealed a zoomed-in projection of the red dot in the timeline map. "London, 1606."

"Aha!" Charlie exclaimed, nudging Constantine beside her. "A mission for the Brits, eh? About time."

Mona clasped her hands together. "I've always wanted to go to London," she sighed. She thought for a moment, then added, "I mean, I imagined going there sometime after modern plumbing and electricity were invented, but this works too."

"1606 would be shortly after the end of the Queen Elizabeth I's reign," Nate elaborated. "King James I began ruling England and Scotland in 1603. Fun fact, he was actually a patron of William Shakespeare, who in turn wrote several plays honoring…"

"We get it, Pretty!" Mick barked, silencing the historian. "People did things. Stuff happened. Cool."

While Nate pouted in response, Leonard turned to Sara. "So, what exactly is wrong with 1606?" he asked.

Instead of answering, Sara lifted her head slightly and asked, "Gideon?"

"In 1606," Gideon's disembodied voice answered, "a new play by William Shakespeare was performed at the Globe Theatre in London. A mysterious disaster during the performance caused it to be abruptly canceled and for the playwright to swear off writing additional works."

Nate gasped. "Did the anachronism get to Shakespeare?"

"Well, that's just rude," Constantine commented. "What's it got against the Bard?"

"More importantly," Zari asked, "what kind of mysterious disaster are we talking about?"

"We don't know yet," Sara explained. "The only recorded descriptions of it that Gideon could find were super vague. What we do know is that Ray was able to find a few areas around London with exceptionally high levels of temporal energy just before the disaster is supposed to take place."

"Four areas, to be exact," Ray said, holding up four fingers.

"Which means you want us to divide and conquer?" Zari guessed.

"Exactly," Sara replied. "If we split up and check out the four hot spots, we're sure to find the anachronism and rift."

Nora gave her a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan, Captain."

"Good," Sara said with a nod. "Gideon, plot a course." She strode to the front of the bridge, declaring as she did, "Brush up on your Shakespearean English, Legends, because we've got a Bard to save!"

The Legends rushed to take their seats. Leonard strapped himself in beside Mick. "You know," he said with a look in Sara's direction, "I think I'm starting to like these little send-offs."

Sara smiled a little as she heard him but didn't turn around to let him see. She pressed the necessary buttons, gripped the controls, and sent the Waverider time jumping into 1606 London.

* * *

The Legends stood in the fabrication room, each adjusting their personalized, historically appropriate outfits. Sara, already fully dressed, looked around at her teammates as she formulated a plan. "Okay," she said. "We've got four hot spots. You've all got copies of the map and each copy should have the hot spots labeled with numbers. We'll need to buddy up. John and Zari, you go to the first one. Nate and Nora, you take the second. Mick and Charlie, you've got number three. I'll take Snart to the fourth one."

Leonard raised his eyebrows but said nothing aloud. He certainly didn't mind being partnered with Sara, although he was a bit surprised by the news.

Mona raised her hand from where she sat in the back of the room. "Wait, what about me and Ray?"

"You're staying on the ship," Sara told her. "Ray carries the only temporal energy gun we currently have. We'll need him to respond to whichever team locates the rift. He needs a buddy as much as anyone else, so you'll be his."

Mona groaned. "Ugh, are you kidding me? I was just saying how much I want to see London."

"Just find something else to do," Sara dismissed. "Read your book."

"But I already finished it."

"Read a different one." She noted the disappointment in Mona's eyes and added, "Look, Mona, I'm just trying to be extra careful. Last time, we left Ray on the Waverider alone and when he had to go, we had no one left on the ship and ended up having to steal a station wagon to race a T-Rex. We need to use more caution from now on."

The similarity of Sara's words to Ava's caught Leonard's attention. "Is that so?" he asked quietly, but just loud enough for Sara to hear.

"Yes, it is," she replied without looking.

He leaned back against the wall casually and glanced sideways at her. "Interesting."

"Well, we do," she insisted again. "I'm sorry, Mona, but you're sitting this one out."

Ray stepped in between them. "Actually," he said, "I'd be perfectly fine with staying on the Waverider alone. I might even like it better. No offense, Mona, of course, but I've got some work to do in the lab. Some quiet alone time might really help me get it done. Plus, I can always just fly the Waverider closer to wherever of you guys end up finding the rift."

Sara hesitated, then asked, "Ray, are you sure you don't want someone to stay with you? Just for safety's sake? We still don't know what kind of anachronism this is. If something insane goes down, I don't want you to be stranded."

Ray held up three fingers. "I'll be careful. Scout's honor."

Sara looked from him to Mona. After a moment of contemplation, she gave in. "Fine. Ray wants peace and quiet. Mona wants to come along. I guess there's only one way to keep a fifth of this team from being annoyed with me, isn't there?" She pointed at Mona. "You can come with me and Snart." She turned around to face the rest of the group. "No matter who you're partnered with, search your areas thoroughly and report to the rendezvous point once you're finished. It's marked with an 'X' on the map. If you find the anachronism or the rift, don't engage until after you've alerted the rest of us on comms. I don't want anybody rushing into a fight without having backup ready."

"Anything else?" Zari asked. "Or can we go?"

"Just remember that the disaster is supposed to happen tonight," Sara pointed out. "That means we have a deadline on finding whatever's about to cause it. Now, let's move out."

The Legends split up into their assigned pairs. Zari and Constantine exited the Waverider first, heading toward their hot spot. Nate and Nora left right after them, followed by Mick and Charlie. Mona leaned in toward Ray and whispered, "Thanks, Ray."

He smiled at her and whispered back, "Any time. I could tell you were dying to get out there. Go have some fun in London."

"Mona!" Sara called, waving at her. "Are you ready to go?"

"Coming!" Mona sprinted across the room as best she could in his long, thick dress. She followed Sara and Leonard out of the ship and into busy, bustling, seventeenth century London.


	19. Questions and Curses

**A/N: Just a disclaimer that I'm not a historian and, while I do try to do my research before writing scenes in different time periods, there's always a chance that there will be some details I forget or don't get 100% right. So, if anyone reading this happens to be an expert on Shakespearean England, 1: that's pretty cool, and 2: please don't judge my representation of it too harshly. (To be fair, LoT takes historical liberties sometimes, too.) That being said, the next few chapters are going to be a lot more interesting if you are at least slightly familiar with _Macbeth, _but hopefully, you'll still enjoy it even if you're not. And finally, bonus points if you spot the small "Princess Bride" reference I threw into this chapter just for fun :)**

* * *

Leonard and Sara walked along the bank of the Thames. Mona followed a few paces behind. All three of them were dressed appropriately for seventeenth century England. Leonard kept the cold gun holstered to his leg, but in accordance with Sara's order not to allow locals to see weapons from the future unless absolutely necessary, he concealed it under a long, black cloak. He looked up and saw London Bridge in the distance. "Doesn't look like it's falling down," he drawled, smirking at Sara. "That's just false advertising."

"Doesn't look like your jokes have gotten better either," she teased him back sarcastically.

He smiled and walked a little bit closer to her. "I seem to remember you liking my jokes."

"I seem to remember half of them being ice puns," she countered.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Sara looked at the fake serious expression on his face, then chuckled as she turned her head away.

Leonard noted her brief laughter and redirected his steps to walk even closer to her, almost close enough to brush against her, though not quite. "See? You do like my jokes."

Mona, who had slowly begun to catch up to the other two Legends, observed the conversation from behind. Something about their interactions caught her attention. Or, really, a few things. There was the way Snart kept leaning toward and moving closer to Sara as the two of them walked to the same rhythm. Then there was the way Sara genuinely smiled and laughed at Snart's words. There was also something about the way they spoke to each other. They were clearly enjoying themselves, but more than that, they seemed to be verbally dancing around each other, each anticipating the other's next move. _Wait a minute,_ Mona thought, her eyes widening. _Are they…flirting?_

"So," Leonard said, continuing the conversation, "aside from my sense of humor, why exactly did you partner up with me on this particular mission?"

"Why not?" Sara asked. "Would you prefer someone else?"

"No," he answered just a little too quickly. "No, just curious."

"Well, it's not like I was going to take Mona instead and leave you alone with Ray. You'd drive each other crazy."

"That's fair. But why choose me in the first place?"

"I need the skills of a thief in this part of town," she explained, holding up the folded map in her hands. "We're the closest group to the Globe, so I could use a teammate who knows how to case an area."

"I'm flattered you think so highly of me," he said, "but I'm pretty sure assassins know a thing or two about that as well."

"Maybe," Sara admitted. She waited for a moment before adding, "I may have also thought it would be nice to work together again. We used to get paired up for missions all the time and, for me, it's been a while."

Leonard's face softened. "You really did miss me," he said quietly.

She smiled at him. "Did you think I was lying?"

He flashed her a snarky look. "Oh, please, Sara, between the two of us, I'm the liar. I think we both know that."

_Oh my gosh,_ Mona thought, still watching from a short distance behind them. _They are totally flirting. I did not see this coming._

"And yet," Sara countered, "your poker face has never fooled me."

"Is that so?" Leonard drawled.

"Absolutely. I can read you like a book."

"Oh really? Prove it. What am I thinking right now?" he asked. The two of them stopped in place and faced each other.

Sara crossed her arms and smirked confidently, then lifted her eyes to study his face, eventually locking eyes with his. That was a mistake. She felt frozen in place, drawn into his gaze and unable to look away. His expression was consciously neutral, but his eyes betrayed something else. Something deeper, warmer, realer. When she'd first started getting to know Leonard Snart, Sara had sometimes wondered whether that special spark in his eyes was always there, or if it was only when she was around. She'd gotten her answer at the Oculus, in the brief moment after their kiss when that spark had been brighter than she'd ever seen before. Leonard's eyes had that same admiring spark in them now. She couldn't say for sure what his exact thoughts were in that moment, but she had a few very solid guesses.

Mona stopped about two feet behind them and looked back and forth between them. _Okay_, she thought, _what is going on here? Is this a thing? I mean, I've always been Team Ava, but wow. Something is definitely up._

Sara blinked and stepped back, finally breaking herself free. "You'd better be thinking about the mission," she said. "We still have a whole string of rifts to deal with after this one, you know." She restarted walking down the riverbank. "And we've still got a while to go until we've searched the whole hot spot, including the street by the Globe itself. Come on, Leonard." She glanced behind her at Mona, eyes still wide as she observed the scene. "You too, Mona."

Mona nodded and quickly ran to catch up with Sara. Leonard watched them walk ahead of him a few paces. He knew exactly what he had been thinking, and the thought was still running through his mind. _I love you, Sara Lance_, he thought. "As you wish, Captain," he said, finally following behind them.

* * *

"This is so exciting," Nate gushed as he waded through the crowded marketplace. "We're in London at the same time as Shakespeare. Do you think we'll meet him? I mean, I know it's a big city, and the goal is to prevent his play from getting screwed up, but it could still happen, right, Nora?" He stopped walking, realizing she was lagging behind him. "Nora?"

"Sorry," she muttered as she walked briskly to catch up. "Just looking around."

He looked at her quizzically. "Is something wrong, Nora?" he asked. "You've been acting weird all day."

"It's nothing," she assured him. "Just keeping a lookout for trouble. It seems to have a way of finding the Legends when we really don't need it."

The two of them began to walk again. "Yeah," Nate said as his eyes scanned the shops they passed. "Zari told me you were looking into Constantine's book earlier. Do you really think there's something coming for us?"

"Not necessarily," Nora replied. "It just seems that, with the timeline in the shape that it is, a magical threat of some kind is likely to show up."

"Well, you're magical, too. Between you and Constantine, we've got a pretty powerful team. That's got to count for something."

Nora sighed and shook her head. "It's not that simple, Nate." They turned toward the opposite end of the marketplace as she explained, "There are a million factors that go into fighting magic with magic, like what I'm fighting, how powerful it is, where it gets its power from…just, a lot."

Nate nodded understandingly. "Yeah, that makes sense. Also, now that I think about it, I'd avoid using magic at all in 1606. You really don't want to get accused of witchcraft right now."

"Agreed." She stopped walking and pointed to the nearest shop entrance. "Maybe there's something in there. Want to check it out?"

"Sure."

The two of them entered the store and found themselves surrounded by a variety of gold and silver products. "Whew," Nate breathed as he looked around, "it's a good thing Mick's not with us. He'd rob this place blind."

"Welcome, good sir," the shopkeeper said, approaching Nate. "We have the finest selections made here in London, as well as others imported from Italy, Germany, and all of Europe." He gestured grandly to the display. "Does anything catch your eye?"

Nora surprised him by answering before Nate could. "We're actually travelers," she explained, "and we're looking around to see if there have been any unusual events near here."

The shopkeeper looked confused. "Unusual events? What ever do you mean, my lady?"

Nora elbowed Nate lightly, hoping the historian would come up with a historically accurate example. Luckily, he did. "Um…we hear there's a new play at the Globe," Nate said. "Has there been any strange talk about it?"

The shopkeeper nodded slowly. "Ah, yes. The newest Shakespeare. There has been a decent bit of gossip about that." He leaned in close to Nate and said much more quietly, "There are a few who claim it is cursed."

"Cursed?" Nate and Nora echoed in unison.

"Aye, so they say," he replied, returning to his normal volume. "As for myself, I have doubts, but then again, I know gold and silver, not the theater."

Nate held up a finger and turned to Nora. "Wait…1606. I knew that year sounded familiar." He put his hand down and spoke to the shopkeeper, who seemed a bit confused by what he meant about a year sounding familiar. "Is this the play known as _Macbeth_?"

"Indeed, the same," the man answered. "Although I would not go around speaking its name so lightly. There are many more superstitious men than I in this city. They say it tells a tale of witches, treason, and murder. But, as I said," he added, "I know little of the theater."

Nate and Nora exchanged glances. "So," Nate asked, "about that curse, what are people saying about it? Has anyone seen bad things happen because of it?"

"None that I am certain of," the shopkeeper replied. "Merely rumors and whispers." He turned away, then paused and faced Nate and Nora again. He lowered his voice to a whisper and added, "There is one who they say knows the truth of many things unseen. If it is your wish to seek answers about curses and the like, you may want to search for the one they call Madame Mystery."

"Madame Mystery?" Nora repeated. "Who is she?"

"I know her not," he answered, still whispering, "but I hear that she has been seen in the streets and alleyways of the city. She is a cloaked woman with many gifts. They say she prefers to remain hidden from the king's men, but she can be found if earnestly sought. Every man I have heard speak of her has claimed that she possesses great knowledge of the past, present, and future."

Nate stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hm…interesting."

Nora narrowed her eyes skeptically. "But you've never seen her in person? Do you know anything about who she actually is?"

"Never," he replied, "and not the faintest. I prefer not to seek out trouble of that kind. I merely know what I hear."

"Uh-huh. And have you heard anything specific about who she is or what she does?" she asked.

"Only that she walks in the shadows and knows many secrets."

Nora thought a little, then asked, "Around when did you start hearing about her? Was it around when people started talking about _Macbeth_?"

"That it was."

Nate looked from the shopkeeper to Nora. "You hear that? It sounds like we have a lead."

Nora grabbed Nate's arm. "Excuse us one moment." She pulled him out of the shop. "I think we need to keep looking around," she told him once they were outside.

"What?" Nate reacted with visible surprise. "Shouldn't we ask him more about this Madame Mystery person? She might be able to tell us where the anachronism is."

"He doesn't know anything about her," Nora countered. "Only rumors too vague to go on. What we need to do is search the hot spot and see if we find her. If we do, then we don't need to ask her _about_ the anachronism. We need to ask her if she _is_ the anachronism."

Nate's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "Of course! She first appeared recently, and she knows about the past, present, and future. She could be from a time in the future."

"Precisely," Nora said. "She's probably just taking advantage of present-day technology and knowledge in a time period of superstition. We need to finish our sweep of this part of town and see if we find any more clues about her, but we're not going to get them from a guy who only knows rumors."

Nate nodded. "Good thinking, Nora. Let's go." The two of them walked away, continuing to search the shops lining the street.

* * *

Zari and Constantine rounded a corner in their assigned section of the city. It was relatively still and calm with only occasional pedestrians and horses passing through. Zari nearly stepped in a puddle of sludge but avoided it just in time. "Ew," she muttered. "Why are the 1600s so gross?"

"Do you actually want an answer, love?" John asked, walking carefully behind her to avoid the same puddle.

"Not really, no."

"Good, because I don't particularly feel like giving one." He stepped around her so that they were side by side and looked up and down the street they were walking along. "Seems we're in a quiet part of the city," he observed. "Not much going on, anachronistic or otherwise."

"Yeah," Zari agreed. "Maybe we should go ahead and go back to the rendezvous point. I feel like we're striking out."

As she spoke, John turned his head and spotted a sign hanging from a building across the street. It was an inn, and it looked like it was a very full one. "Now that," he said, pointing at it, "is a place where we might find some answers."

Zari looked over at the building, considering it. "I mean, I guess it's the last place around here we haven't checked. We can definitely scope it out…and he's already gone," she said as he crossed to the other side of the street. She sighed and followed him.

The inside of the inn was loud and dimly lit. It was slightly crowded, but not to the point of being overwhelming. Most of the patrons appeared to be men, but there were a few women among them. Zari slid over to John's side. "See anything?" she asked.

He nodded his head toward the nearest table. "Thought we might ask them."

Zari looked and saw a group of men of a wide range of ages speaking in hushed tones. She nodded at John and the two of them moved silently toward the table, listening in.

"I am unsure if we should going through with it," one of the younger men said as they drew closer. "Didn't you hear about the curse?"

"There is no curse," another member of the group argued. "Someone has it out for the show is all. Probably one of those uptight folks who are always complaining about Shakespeare being too vulgar. They'd love to see a curse put on one of his plays, wouldn't they?"

"But didn't you hear about the witches?" a third man at the table asked. "They say the script comes too close to the truth, and now there's a whole coven out for revenge."

"Revenge?" Constantine asked, drawing the surprised attention of the whole group. "Revenge for what, exactly?"

The seated men exchanged glances before the second speaker replied, "Revenge for writing real spells into the new play, sir. But it's all rumors. We've been at rehearsal every night and saw no conjuring or evil of any kind, save within the script."

"Rehearsal?" Zari repeated, catching on. "Oh, I see. You're the acting troupe performing Shakespeare's new play."

"Most of it," the youngest at the table answered. "Our Macduff is out and about. He should be meeting us here."

John recognized the character name immediately. "Macduff? And a play with a curse?" He slid into a space at the table, squeezing between two of the actors. "So, you're all talking about _Macbeth_, then, aren't you?"

"What else?" the man on his left asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's the only Shakespeare playing at the Globe these days."

"Let's just say I'm from out of town," Constantine said, leaning back casually. "Still catching up on the latest events in London."

"Well, don't let these ones frighten you," the second speaker assured him. "They're easily spooked is all. None of us would be going through with it if we believed there was true danger. Come see the show for yourself and you'll know there's nothing to fear."

Just then, a tall man burst into the inn. He hurried toward the actors, nearly trampling Zari in the process. "Apologies, miss," he said, bowing his head before turning to speak to them. Judging by the looks of recognition on their faces, Zari and John assumed he was the actor playing Macduff. "I spoke with a friend of mine," he told the troupe. "He claims that there's a woman spreading word of the curse. They call her Madame Mystery."

"Never heard of her," the man on John's right said skeptically. "What would she know of the play? She hasn't seen it, and we haven't seen her."

"No," the Macduff actor said, "but people believe her. They say she has a gift for knowing these sorts of things."

"Do you think she's part of the coven?" the youngest actor asked.

"There is no coven!" the oldest one insisted. "Just like there's no curse. I'll bet some rival playwright is paying her to say that and stir up trouble."

Zari leaned in closer to the group. "Do any of you know anything about who this Madame Mystery person is?"

"No," a few of them replied.

"Not I," the others said at the same time.

"I've only just heard of her," the Macduff actor said.

John tapped his fingers on the table, thinking. He suddenly stood up. "Well, it's been nice talking to you gents. Good luck with the show and all. Break a leg." He stepped away and whispered into Zari's ear, "There's definitely something off about that curse and whoever Madame Mystery is, but these blokes don't know anything."

"Meaning we should work our way around the inn and see if anyone else here does."

"Exactly, love. I'll go right, you go left?"

"Works for me."

The two of them separated, preparing to listen for clues.

* * *

"I hate this costume," Mick grumbled to Charlie as he adjusted his outfit. Like Leonard, he wore appropriate clothing for the seventeenth century with his weapon hidden under a cloak, although he had opted for a dark maroon version. "It itches."

"At least you get to wear trousers," Charlie pointed out, looking down at her long skirt.

"Barely," Mick remarked, scratching his breeches. "You can shift into whatever you want. If you don't like it, be somebody else."

Charlie sighed. "You know it's not that simple, mate. I still revert back to this body if I try to be someone else for too long."

Mick didn't respond, too busy looking around at the buildings and people around them. "This would be a lot more fun if there was something to steal. Just looking for stuff sucks, and we don't even know what we're looking for."

Charlie nodded in agreement, scanning the horizon for anything out of the ordinary. Not seeing anything, she shrugged and said, "Might as well finish looking over our hot spot, I suppose." She checked her map, then began to walk down the street to her right. Mick grumpily followed.

The buildings became less crowded as they moved farther from the center of the city. There were even a few open areas with grass, bushes, and gardens, though not enough to give the illusion that they weren't still in London. Suddenly, Charlie stopped. "Do you hear that, mate?" she asked, turning to Mick.

"Hear what? The sound of wasting time?"

"Shh!" she hushed, pointing in the direction of the sound. "Listen."

Mick glowered at her by obeyed. Slowly, he started to recognize what she was talking about. There was a low, coarse sound coming from a nearby building. It sounded to Mick's ears like it came from something alive, but he couldn't say for sure. "Sounds like…something."

"Exactly, mate, and not a very happy something." She listened again, then identified a small building sitting in the nearest open space behind a wooden fence. "It's coming from there." She hopped over the fence and put her ear up against the wall. "It's inside," she told Mick. "Sounds like…growling? Is that right?"

Mick reluctantly climbed over the fence to join her and placed his ear next to hers. "Yeah. Something like that."

Charlie turned around, resting her back against the wall. She looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You're a thief, aren't you? Break us in."

He glanced down and noticed a large lock attached to a chain holding the door shut. "Why?"

"Being a good friend," Charlie replied simply. "Or curiosity. You were just saying you'd like to steal something. What if there's something worth stealing inside? You won't know until you open it."

Mick considered the idea. A smirk slowly crossed his face. "I do like breaking into places," he admitted.

Charlie patted his shoulder supportively. "There you go, mate."

He waved her aside as he bent down to examine the lock. Snart had always been the better lockpicker between the two of them, but Mick was still quite skilled in that area. His analysis determined that this lock required a fairly simple key that would be easy to imitate with the right instrument. It was also an old lock with rust beginning to build up along its edges, just barely strong enough to keep the door fastened shut. He looked up at Charlie and asked, "Got any paperclips on you?"

She shook her head.

He shrugged. "Guess we're doing this the other way, then." He stood up, pulled his heat gun out of his cloak, and banged the handle forcefully against the lock three times until it was bent out of shape. He holstered his weapon and stomped his boot on the damaged lock, making it drop to the ground. He turned to Charlie. "Well, you want to go in or not?"

Charlie stepped toward the door. The two of them grabbed onto its edges and pulled it wide open. Inside was a dark room, seeming like a sort of stable. Charlie looked at the back corner of the room, then gasped. "Mick, look!"

Mick walked toward her. "Is that a…"

"Bear," Charlie finished for him. "There's a bear and it's caged up. Do you see it?"

Mick peered at the shape. Charlie's description was accurate. A cage with metal bars was pushed against the far wall. Inside it, a bear wearing a metal collar crouched and snarled. "Yeah, I see it," Mick said warily.

Charlie spun around to face Mick, anger in her eyes. "Do you know what they do to bears in this time period? The same thing that bloody fairy godmother witch did to me. Force them to act like monsters and then make a show of it. Bear baiting, they call it." She crossed her arms, still fuming. "I'll bet that's what they're keeping this one here for. It's not the monster in this scenario, I can promise you that." She took a cautious step closer to the animal.

"Hey," Mick said, keeping his voice low, "what are you doing? You want to make it madder?"

"Not until we break it out, I don't."

"Oh." Mick watched her uneasily. "We're…breaking it out?"

"Don't you always like a good prison break, Mick?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted, "but I don't know anything about bears."

Charlie examined the locked door of the cage, then looked sharply back at Mick. "We need to either break or open this lock," she whispered, trying not to startle the bear with any sudden moves or noises. "It's built into the door, so I don't think your gun will do the trick this time."

"Then what? We'll just…have a bear?"

Charlie thought for a moment. "We can get Ray to shrink it, then set it loose in the woods somewhere. Or we can have Nora put it under a spell while we get it somewhere safe. I doubt moving one bear will change the timeline much."

"I don't care about the timeline," Mick replied gruffly. "I care about not getting mauled."

"Better yet, we ought to have Mona," Charlie said, ignoring Mick's concerns. "She's got a way with all creatures, magical or not."

"We don't have her," Mick reminded her. "We have you and me. And now you want us to have a bear."

"I know that, mate. Just thinking." She looked up at him again, this time more solemnly. "You let me out of my cage once, even when Constantine and everyone else still thought I was a monster. This one's probably done less harm than I ever did. Are you really going to pick now to start playing jailor?"

Mick stared at her silently for a moment, then shook his head in defeat. "Fine."

She smiled at him. "I knew I could count on you." She hopped up to her feet and began to plan aloud, "First, we'll find a way to unlock the cage. We can slip that rope over there through the bars and tie it around its collar before opening the door, just to make sure it doesn't run loose and hurt anyone. Don't worry, Mick," she assured him with a glance backward, "I'll do that part. If it bites, I can just transform a couple times and then won't have a scratch. Then, we'll take it to the Waverider and let Gideon find a safe place for it. Simple, really. Now, about that lock…"

"Hey!" a man's voice shouted.

Charlie and Mick turned quickly to face the open door and saw a furious man standing there.

"Ah…hello, good sir," Charlie said innocently. "Lovely weather we're having."

The man stomped in, glaring at them. "Intruders! What are you doing on my property?"

"Not stealing anything," Mick answered. Under his cloak, his hand hovered over his heat gun.

Charlie noticed the look on his face and knew he was eager to attack. She placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Calm down. Let me handle this." She stepped forward toward the owner and spoke loudly, "What are you doing with this creature? You think he likes being locked up and made a spectacle of?"

"Is it any of thy business, trespasser?"

She placed her hands on her hips. "I might be a trespasser, but at least I'm not a bear-baiting wanker like you."

"Perhaps not," he spat, "but thou art an artless, fool-born varlet all the same!"

Charlie threw her head back and laughed, then stared at the man with a mischievous grin. "Oh, is that how you want to play this game, you…" she thought for a moment before finishing, "…qualling…ill-bred turd?"

"Game?" Mick repeated confusedly. "What game? What are you saying?"

The man shot back, "Thou art a crusty, boil-brained flirt-gill!"

Charlie returned, "And you're a frothy, toad-spotted carbuncle!"

Mick squinted at the two of them, trying to make sense of the conversation. "Are you even speaking English?"

"Shakespeare's English, mate," Charlie explained. "I never fancied reading him much, but there's no denying the man's an artist when it comes to his insult style."

"Enough!" the owner shouted. He grabbed a pitchfork that was laying against the wall. He pointed it at the two of them threateningly. "Give me any more trouble and I'll call for the constable."

Charlie held up her hands. "Easy, mate. Just having a little fun with you." She muttered under her breath, "Now, Mick."

Mick began to put up his hands, but at the last moment, pulled out his signature weapon and blasted a stream of flame into the air. Their captor was too stunned to move, giving Mick enough time to tackle him to the ground, pull a ring of keys out of his pocket, and toss it to Charlie. She grabbed a nearby rope and ran to unlock the cage.

"Witchcraft!" the man gasped, still lying under Mick.

"Nope," the rogue responded nonchalantly. "Heat gun."

Charlie fiddled with the keys until she found one that matched. "Easy, mate," she whispered soothingly to the bear, trying to keep it calm as she worked the lock with one hand and prepared the rope with the other. "Just stay still."

"First Madame Mystery," the man said fearfully, "then a cursed play, and now this? The whole bloody city's gone mad!"

Charlie raised an eyebrow as she finally heard the lock click open, though she continued to hold the door shut with her hand. "Madame who? What curse?"

She didn't get an answer. The bear, realizing its freedom, charged forward, shoving the door open before Charlie had a chance to reach through with the rope. Mick got up and ran out of its path. The man he had tackled grabbed his pitchfork again to defend himself. He managed to hit back hard enough to spook the bear before it could hurt him, sending it fleeing out of the stable. When he returned to his feet, neither the bear nor the two intruders remained.

Mick dragged Charlie along, cutting through the grassy space behind the bear's former prison. "Oi," Charlie protested, "what about the bear?"

"Forget the bear!" Mick grunted. "I didn't come to the 1606 to get arrested. Rule Number Four!"

"What's Rule Number Four?"

"Never mind," he said exasperatedly as they reached a much busier street. "You can ask Snart about it later. Just run!" They ducked into the crowd and shoved their way away from the scene as quickly as possible.

* * *

**A/N: No, Madame Mystery is not an OC, but she's definitely not someone the Legends are expecting to show up in 1606. You'll find out her real name next chapter...**


	20. The Search for Madame Mystery

Ray leaned back in his chair in the Waverider lab, thumbing through the pages of a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. "Man," he said to himself, "I should really write one of these for Nora. She'd love it." He lifted his head and looked around, disappointed at his empty surroundings. "Well, I hope the team's having fun out there," he said, again speaking only to himself. "I'd love some Shakespearean drama right about now." He adjusted his body to be more comfortable and began to read his book again.

"Dr. Palmer," Gideon's voice announced, "there is an incoming call from Director Sharpe at the Time Bureau. Will you answer, or shall I hold it for Captain Lance?"

Ray jumped out of his seat, excited to finally have something to do. "No! No, I've got it, Gideon. I'll be right there."

He ran from the lab to the parlor, arriving just as the screen buzzed to life, revealing Ava's face. "Ray?" she said, appearing surprised. "I, uh…I wasn't expecting you."

"The captain's in the field right now," he explained with a friendly grin. "What can I do for you? Did you get my design for the temporal energy gun?"

"Yes, I did," Ava replied, relaxing a little. "Everything seems fine. It'll take a little time before we can mass produce them, but I'm optimistic." She paused, stared at Ray for a moment, then said, "I meant to talk to Captain Lance. Do you know when she'll be back?"

Ray shook his head. "Nope. Sorry. You never know how long a mission will take."

"Oh. Okay." Ava looked away uncomfortably. "You can tell her to call me when she gets back…"

"No, wait," Ray said, taking a step closer to the screen. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I'll pass it on to Sara. Why waste time playing phone tag? I mean, unless it's…you know…personal," he added, glancing away awkwardly.

"It's not," Ava answered very quickly. "It's not personal. It's about the mission." She leaned forward, a little closer to the camera on her desk. "All right, Ray, I trust you. But make sure you don't mix anything up. I don't want this to turn into a game of telephone."

"Oh, of course!" Ray grabbed a notebook and pen from the top of the captain's desk. "I'll even write it down to make sure. You can count on me, Ava!"

Ava raised her eyebrows in reaction to his typical enthusiasm, then shrugged and continued with her message. "It's about the rifts," she said. Ray started scribbling notes. "Last time we talked, I didn't know what had caused them. But today, Gary brought me some research findings, and things are looking up." She looked straight at Ray. "I think we know what's behind all this."

Ray froze mid-sentence, almost dropping his pen. "Oh." He didn't know what Sara's plan was regarding when or if to tell Ava about pulling Snart out of the fabric of time itself, but he knew she hadn't said anything yet and hadn't told anyone else on the team to say anything. Given the Legends' track record with the timeline, he could understand why.

Ava tilted her head sideways, a concerned look on her face. "Is something wrong, Ray?"

Ray forced a laugh. "Ha ha…no. No, everything's fine. I guess I'm just…surprised! You know, because it was this big mystery. Kind of takes the suspense out it, right? Heh." Ava's concerned expression remained intact. Ray tried to act normal again. "Just…keep telling me what you found." He started writing again. _Either she's wrong_, he thought nervously, _or we are super screwed_.

* * *

"There it is," Mona said, pointing across the street was the easily recognizable Globe. It loomed tall over the street. Posters were plastered around its outer walls advertising the new show. However, since there was not a performance going on at the moment, the area around it appeared relatively empty. Mona turned to Sara and asked, "Should we find a way inside?"

Sara nodded. "I think so. We haven't found anything else in this hot spot, so if there is anything giving off that temporal energy signature, it's probably inside." She looked to Leonard. "Think you can get us in?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Are you really asking if I can get past an early seventeenth century security system?" he asked. "I'm a little insulted that that's a question."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. No need to brag. We know you're a master thief."

He smirked at her. "Always nice to hear you say it."

She smiled a little, then nudged him forward toward the Globe. "Well, come on, master thief, we've got a theater to break into."

He held up his hands and spun around to face her and Mona again. "Relax, Captain," he drawled. "You know I wouldn't miss that kind of opportunity."

The three of them crossed the street and headed up the short stairs leading to the Globe. It was not overly crowded at that time of day, but there were just enough people moving around to keep them from being noticed. Leonard analyzed his surroundings carefully as he moved, intentionally spending more time in shadows than out of them. Once they were walking beside the circular theater building, he slowed down his pace a little, taking in the details of its outer structure to identify potential entrance and exit points. Sara joined him at his side, looking straight ahead to avoid looking too conspicuous. Mona continued to walk right behind them, still intrigued by the increasingly tiny amount of space between the two original Legends.

"I'm thinking backstage entrance," Sara said quietly.

"There has to be one," Leonard agreed, "and it'll be away from the eyes of the street."

"Unlike the main door," Sara added without missing a beat, "which would be a bit too obvious."

"Exactly."

"If we're lucky, they'll still be moving sets and props in. It might even be unlocked."

"Kind of takes the fun out of it, but yes."

"Of course, if it is unlocked…"

"Then we have to keep the volume down in case someone's inside."

"Precisely."

Mona listened to the conversation carefully and noted how quickly Sara and Snart seemed to respond to each other, like they were on the same train of thought. She recalled a similar type of exchange during the fight with the time pirates. _Interesting_, she thought.

The trio eventually made their way around to the back of the theater. There were several empty carts sitting near it, most likely recently used to transport set pieces. Leonard spotted the backstage door and reached it first. He scanned the handle, lock, and doorframe with his eyes, but didn't touch them. Finally, he turned to Sara. "Turns out we're lucky," he announced, gripping the handle and cracking the unlocked door open.

Mona stared at him. "You could tell just from looking at it that was unlocked?" she asked, surprise evident in her voice. "How?"

"Because I can," he answered dismissively. "Master thief, remember?" He pulled the door open all the way and nodded his head toward the inside of the theater. "Ladies first." Sara exchanged a quick glance with him, then led Mona inside. Snart followed, closing the door silently behind them.

Inside, the three Legends found a wide variety of stage props, set pieces, costumes, and other seemingly random types of supplies loosely organized all around them. They seemed to be alone. "Backstage at Shakespeare's Globe," Mona whispered in awe as she took everything in. "This is so cool."

"It'll be cooler once we find out if there's anything here," Sara reminded her. "Stay on mission."

"What?" Snart asked dryly, leaning back against a small replica of a castle tower. "You're not in the mood for a balcony scene?"

Sara turned around to face him and crossed her arms. "Leonard, oh Leonard," she retorted with a wry look, "wherefore art thou like this?"

Leonard stared at her for a moment, returning her expression and tone with an even snarkier one. "Careful, Canary. If Shakespeare's around, he might take offense at your adaptation."

"Like some old playwright is any match for a trained assassin," Sara replied.

"Depends how many weapons you've got on you," Snart drawled, his eyes moving down from her face to her dress.

Sara took a step closer to him, arms still crossed. "And how many do you think I have, Leonard?" she asked.

Snart raised his eyes back up to hers. "A lot."

Sara uncrossed her arms, leaned in toward him, and pointed at his chest. "You bet I do," she said with a confident smirk, "and don't you forget it." She turned around abruptly and walked away toward the wings of the stage.

_Wow_, Leonard thought as she left. _She is incredible_.

_Wow_, Mona thought, watching the whole scene unfold._ I need to know what's going on, like, now_.

Sara reached the wings of the stage and looked out. The large theater was completely empty. Sunlight poured in from its open roof, illuminating the stage and many rows of seats. _There's probably more to investigate here_, she thought, _but I'd better check in with the team and make sure they haven't found anything yet_. She spoke into her comms, "Legends, what's your status?" She heard only static. She tried again, this time to one specific channel. "John, are you there?" Again, static. She walked back to where Leonard and Mona were still standing and tried one more time. "There's interference," Sara told them. "I can't call the team."

"Like when we couldn't use comms during the time vortex?" Mona asked.

Sara nodded as she understood. "That's right, Mona. Exactly like that. Which means the rift must be nearby." She looked at Mona first, then Leonard. "I'm going to get far away enough to get a signal to Ray. You two, search the theater." She hurried through the nearest door to the outside.

Leonard barely had a second to think before Mona ran to stand just inches in front of him. "Oh my gosh," she gushed. "Is this a thing? Please tell me if this is a thing!"

"Is what a thing?" he asked, trying to subtly scoot away from her but finding his movements limited by the castle set to his back.

"You and Captain Lance," Mona said. "Did you guys date or something? Or have you just been hooking up? Is this like a flirtationship? Spill the tea!"

"Uh…no," Leonard said, very uncomfortable with the sudden interrogation though he tried not to show it.

"No, you didn't date?"

He turned his head to avoid eye contact. "Just no." Mona's shoulders slumped disappointedly. Snart took advantage of the break in the conversation to slide away from the castle set piece and walk toward the other side of the backstage area, keeping his back to Mona.

Mona wasn't ready to give up. She sprinted after him. "Come on, Snart. Don't act like you two haven't been flirting with each other all day."

"We should really find that rift," he said, not looking back at her.

"I just want to know what the deal is between you two," Mona pressed. "Until Mick writes his next novel, I need some romance in my life to get emotionally invested in. Right now, you and the captain are ticking all my potential ship boxes. So, what's going on? Is there some history here?"

Leonard ignored her and began to examine a stash of prop weapons on a nearby table. He picked up a fake sword by the hilt, studying it.

"Are you even listening to me?" Mona asked, running around the table so he had no choice but to face her.

Leonard set down the sword and looked her in the eyes. "Yes, Mona, I am listening to you. I am also choosing to ignore what you're saying."

"Why?"

"Because I am." He turned to walk in another direction, but Mona stepped in his way. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Move."

"Not until you tell me what's going on between you and Captain Lance," she insisted.

"Would you believe me if I said nothing's going on?"

"Based on how you've been acting today? No."

"Then you're an idiot. There's nothing going on." _At least_, he mentally added, _nothing I want to talk to Mona about_. He stepped around her and headed for the wings. While he peeked around the curtains, Mona caught up to him. He glanced back at her. "You really don't quit, do you?"

"I can be very persistent," she replied.

He looked back at the stage. "That's cute, but I said we're done talking about it."

"But…"

"We're done."

Snart walked out onto the stage and looked out at the empty seats. He scanned the round room slowly, searching for anything even remotely resembling a rift. _Come on, screwed up timeline_, he thought. _Get me out of this conversation._

"You do know that Captain Lance chose to take a risk in bringing you back, right?" Mona asked, still standing in the wings.

Leonard turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

"We didn't know that pulling you out would create rifts," Mona explained, "but Gideon did warn us that there was a statistically significant margin of error in her calculations, meaning that saving you could impact the timeline in unknown ways that not even Gideon could determine. It was up to Sara to decide whether or not to go through with it knowing that risk. Just Sara. And she decided to do it anyway."

Leonard hesitated for a moment. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Sara decided that saving you was worth risking the timeline," she answered earnestly. "The very same timeline that she has spent the past four years of her life protecting and is now desperately trying to fix. And she made that decision three whole years after you'd been out of her life. That's how much you mean to her, Snart." She paused, then concluded gleefully, "And if you guys like each other, then that is so. Freaking. Romantic."

Leonard took a second to process what he had just heard. He had assumed that Sara had signed off on the plan to save him and had probably had the final say in making it happen, but he'd had no idea that she had chosen to do so in spite of a known risk. He focused on Mona again and shook his head. "Kid, this isn't one of your books. Sara and I aren't about to ride off into the sunset or fly to whatever planet Mick's characters are from. We're friends."

Mona crossed her arms and looked at him skeptically. "You seem a lot flirtier with each other than most friends are."

"That's just how we act together, okay? Now drop it."

"But…"

"I said drop it. Just look for the rift so we can get out of here." He climbed down from the stage and began to search the audience's seats.

Mona frowned as she watched him go. "The master thief doth protest too much, methinks," she quoted quietly to herself before turning around to search elsewhere backstage.

* * *

Nate and Nora spotted John and Zari as they all approached the rendezvous point. "Hey, guys!" Nate said, waving at them. "Find anything?"

"Not exactly," Zari replied. "We heard a lot of rumors about weird stuff, but we didn't actually see any anachronisms or rifts. You?"

Nora shook her head disappointedly. "Same here."

From a third direction, Charlie and Mick ran in, struggling to catch their breath as they reached the rendezvous point. "Oi," Charlie panted, "we made it."

Zari looked at her quizzically. "Why were you two running so fast?"

"Doesn't matter," Mick answered. "You guys find the anonymism?"

"Anachronism," Zari corrected him.

"And no," Nate said, "we didn't. Just heard a bunch of stories about some Madame Mystery person. We thought she might have been the anachronism, but we didn't find her in the hot spot, so I'm not so sure."

John and Zari exchanged looks. "Sounds like what we did," John said. "Apparently, some people think she's behind the _Macbeth_ curse. You know, the whole 'no saying its name in a theater' business."

"Hey," Charlie said, elbowing Mick, "isn't that the name that bloke said?"

"What bloke?" Nora asked.

"Doesn't matter," Mick and Charlie said in unison.

Nate held up a hand as he connected the dots. "Guys, listen! This means that Madame Mystery has to be the anachronism. She has been present in every hot spot and has some kind of connection to the play that's about to be messed with."

"Yeah," Nora said, "but if she's been in all our hot spots and none of us have seen her, then she must be really good at staying hidden."

"Maybe we can track her down," Zari suggested. "If we map out every place where people claim they've seen her, there might be a pattern, or at least a general direction we can go in." She pulled out her copy of the map and held it flat against the nearest wall. "Anybody got a pen?" John reached into his pocket and handed her a completely normal modern-day pen. "Huh. John actually carries normal things sometimes," Zari observed, pleasantly surprised. "Nice."

One by one, the Legends marked each spot where they had heard reports of Madame Mystery's appearances. After they finished, Zari looked over the finished jumble of little black dots, trying to find a pattern. "It's almost like…wait a minute." She took the pen back and began connecting the dots. "They start out far apart," she explained as she drew, "but if you connect them in a spiral, they get closer and closer together, until…there." She took the pen off the page and pointed the back of it at a blank spot in the center of the slightly lopsided spiral she'd drawn. "That's where we'll find her. Or, at least, where we'll find some clues about her."

"Brilliant, Z," Charlie remarked.

Nate grinned proudly. "That's my genius girlfriend!"

Zari blushed and took the map down from the wall. "Thanks."

"We should call Sara," Nora told the group. "She might still be looking for the anachronism or the rift. We have to let her know what we figured out."

"On it," Nate said. He spoke into his comms, "Hey, Captain! What's your status?" Nothing. He tried again. "Sara? Captain Lance? White Canary?" Still nothing. He frowned and reported, "She's not picking up. Mick, try Snart."

Mick nodded and tried his comms, "Snart? You there?" No response. "I got nothing."

"Do you think they're okay?" Nora asked.

"They're probably just too focused to pick up," Nate assured her. "You know how badly Sara wants to fix all the rifts. I'm sure she's keeping Snart and Mona pretty busy. That or they're just in a bad reception area. Time periods before electricity can be a little patchy sometimes."

"That's true," Zari agreed. "The responsible thing to do is probably to wait until she picks up, though, right?"

The Legends nodded and each voiced their agreement. They all stood there silently for a moment. Eventually, John broke the silence. "Well," he said, "that's enough waiting for me."

"Yep," Charlie agreed. "Off we go, then."

With little deliberation, the six of them headed away to find Madame Mystery.

* * *

"Ray?" Sara asked, turning a corner a few streets down from the location of the Globe. "Ray? Can you hear me?"

After a few steps farther, the static finally began to fade out and was replaced by the voice of Ray Palmer. "Sara! Hey! I've been trying to call you for a while now. Where are you?"

"I think we found the rift," Sara explained. "It's somewhere in or near the Globe. I couldn't pick up because the energy it was emitting was interfering with my signal. Think you can get over here soon? We'll need that gun of yours."

"Yeah. Yeah, I can be there." He paused before continuing in a more concerned tone, "But, Captain, there's something you need to know."

"What?"

"Remember how we weren't telling the Time Bureau about saving Snart's life? And how they were totally clueless about why so many rifts were popping up?"

Sara stiffened, a little worried about where it sounded like Ray was going with this. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, I have good news and I have bad news," Ray explained. "Which do you want first?"

"Hm…bad news."

"Okay. The bad news is…they figured out that someone altered the fabric of time by pulling something out of the timeline itself. They have also determined that the thing pulled out was not completely detached from the timeline's energy, therefore displacing a ton of temporal energy and ripping a hole in time when it was removed. Or really, several holes. Also, even though they haven't discovered every detail of how it was done, they have identified enough parts of the process to determine that it was an intentional group effort, not a freak accident or an individual acting alone."

"And what are they doing about that?"

"Heh…yeah. That's the worse part of the bad news. Given the Time Bureau's history with bad guys manipulating the timeline – and Rip's records of dealing with Vandal Savage and the Legion, which they still have – Director Sharpe is treating this as a crime against the timeline committed by some new group of time criminals. Agents are being sent out to find whatever people or magical creatures are responsible, arrest them, and recover the missing part of the timeline."

Sara clenched her jaw, then inhaled and exhaled slowly. "That's…that's pretty bad. Did you say you had good news too?"

"The good news is, the Time Bureau still doesn't know it was us, or that Snart is the thing they're looking for. I mean, I don't know if they'll figure it out eventually, but at least for now, we're not in their list of prime suspects."

Sara backed herself up against a wall and leaned back against it, trying to process the situation. "So," she summarized, "the Time Bureau thinks that some team of unknown villains stole a piece of the timeline for malicious intentions and they are now hunting them down, but they have no idea that the villains they're looking for are actually the Legends and that that piece of the timeline is actually Leonard Snart."

"Yep."

Sara groaned, "Ugh, and here I thought not telling them would make things _less_ messy."

"Cheer up, Captain. Like I said, they don't know it was us."

"They'll find out, Ray," she insisted. "Ava's not dumb. All they have to do is figure out which rift appeared first, track it to Central City, read the ship's log, and then, boom! We're all under arrest."

"Not necessarily," Ray argued. "I'm sure Ava would understand if she knew the whole story. She only thinks bad guys did it because she doesn't know what really happened and why. I mean, what kind of person would be against rescuing a friend who literally sacrificed himself as a hero for his team? Maybe, if we come clean, she'll drop the charges."

Sara raised her eyebrows. "Come clean? Do you think Ava's going to let me off the hook for anything right now? We can barely handle an in-person conversation. How well do you think me admitting to something she already believes is a crime against the timeline is going to go over?"

She could hear Ray sigh patiently on the other side of the speaker. "You're the captain, Sara. It's your call to make, not mine. I'm just saying that, from what I'm seeing, honesty is looking like one of the better options right now." He stopped talking for a moment, then added, "While you think about it, should I head over with the temporal energy gun? We do still have a rift to deal with."

"Yeah, sure. Come on over."

"Okay. See you in a bit, Captain."

Sara hung up the call and landed a hard, frustrated punch against a wooden cart sitting idle near her. _As if creating problems for the timeline didn't make us look bad enough_, she thought, _now we're one Time Bureau investigation away from being classified as time criminals. Great. Just great._

* * *

Zari and John led the other four Legends down a long, thin alley. Despite the daylight, the shadows created by rickety structures and shapes around them generated an atmosphere of darkness and strangeness. Zari looked up from the map and turned around slowly, surveying the area. "She should be here," she said. "This is where the spiral ended."

"I don't see her," Mick commented, looking from one side of the alley to the other.

"Well, it's not like she's going to stand outside all day, mate," John pointed out. "She's probably somewhere inside one of these." He waved his hand at the buildings lining each side of the alley.

"But which one?" Nate asked, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Nora looked down at the ground. She had a bad feeling, but she couldn't tell exactly why. Then, something caught her attention. "Guys!" she exclaimed, running to a spot slightly farther in. The others followed her and found a footprint in a muddy spot. "That doesn't look like a seventeenth century shoe to me," she said. "Look at the size of the heel and the toe shape. I don't know what time period it's from, but it definitely isn't this one."

Nate raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that? I mean, you're right, but how?"

Nora shrugged. "I've spent a lot of time at Renaissance fairs. You'd be surprised how much you learn about fashion at those."

"Fair point," Nate conceded.

Zari peered down at the footprint. She aligned her index finger with the direction the toe faced and drew an invisible line with her eyes. Sure enough, she spotted a short staircase along the side of building leading down to what appeared to be the door to an underground cellar. "Oh, perfect," she deadpanned. "Our weird curse lady is hiding in a creepy basement. Because where else would she be?"

The Legends filed down the small staircase and reached the door. "Want me to break it open?" Mick offered. Instead of answering, Nora whispered a quick spell that caused the door to unlock and creak open. "Take all the fun out of it," Mick grumbled.

"Don't worry, mate," Charlie assured him with a friendly punch to the shoulder. "As soon as we bag this one up, you can get back to your thieving."

The six of them walked into the cellar. Aside from a few crates along the walls, it appeared to be empty. However, as they moved deeper inside, John spotted something strange. He led the group to the back wall, ran his fingers over it, and found a hidden latch. "Secret door," he said. "Now this is getting interesting."

John pushed the door open and revealed a second, even smaller room. It was much more decorated than the first. Dark purple curtains were draped over three of the four walls. There was a small table in the center of the room with a transparent crystal ball sitting on top of it. Charlie pushed aside one of the curtains to reveal a detailed, hand-drawn map of the Globe stuck to the wall.

"Blimey," she said. "This must be it."

"Must be what?" a voice asked.

The Legends jumped, startled to see a short woman standing behind the table. There was very little they could see of her aside from her general shape due to the long, dark cloak covering her body and creating a shadow over her face. Nate glanced at the door they had just come in through, then leaned toward Zari. "How did she get in here?" he whispered. "We've been standing here the whole time."

"I don't know," Zari whispered back. "Could be another hidden door."

"Or magic," the strange woman suggested. "Don't play dumb with me, deary. I know you've seen it before."

"What?" Zari asked, stepping in closer. "How do you know what I've seen?"

The woman placed her hands over the crystal ball. "I know many things, my pet. I know your name is Zari Tomaz, you are a member of the Legends, and you carry something quite valuable on your wrist."

Zari instinctively hid the arm carrying her totem behind her back.

Charlie stepped forward to join her teammate. "Now listen here, missy," she said. "You can quit playing games right now. We all know your little secret. You're out of your time and fooling around with superstitious people's heads to get by. Well, it looks like your act is over because we're here to take you back when you come from. So, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

The woman said nothing for a moment, then began to cackle with laughter. "Oh, Legends," she said dryly. "As usual, you don't know half of what you're dealing with."

Nora's bad feeling grew. "Wait," she said quietly. "That voice. It sounds so familiar." She raised her hands and joined the other two women at the front of the group. "Who are you?" she demanded. "Tell us before I have to cast a spell to make you."

"Oh, Nora Darhk," the woman patronizingly replied, "it would be no match for one of my own." She threw back her hood, revealing white hair, a dark dress, and a face the Legends recognized all too well.

"Tabitha!" they all exclaimed in unison.

She smirked wryly. "We meet again, Legends."

"Witch!" Charlie cried furiously, clenching her fists. "I'll teach you to turn me into a monster, you bloody wanker!" She moved to charge at her, but Zari put a hand in front of her.

"Wait," she said softly. "Let's figure out what's going on first."

"Seems pretty clear to me," Charlie muttered. "She's where she shouldn't be and needs to be taken down."

Mick lifted his heat gun out of its holster and pointed it warily at Tabitha. "I thought you were dragon lunch," he said.

Tabitha tilted her head sideways, considering his words and not appearing to feel very threatened. "What on earth do you mean, deary?"

Nate connected the dots. "Not if she was displaced in time before Wixtable could eat her," he explained. "That must be what happened."

"Ah, I see," Tabitha said. "Well, thank you for the warning. I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen. Really, you Legends make this too easy."

"That's enough, you old bat," Constantine replied with a glare.

"Yeah," Nate agreed. "And you know what? It doesn't even matter. You've already lost. We're just going to pick you and put you back in time to lose again."

"My goodness," Tabitha said, clearly unconvinced. "You Legends really believe you could defeat my Neron? Now there's a laugh."

"Oh yeah?" Nate replied, placing his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out proudly. "Guess what? He's already dead."

John noticed the shocked look on Tabitha's face and placed a hand on Nate's shoulder. "Might want to slow down, love…"

Nate didn't care. He was on roll. "We killed Neron by tricking him into breaking his promise to Ray. He's gone. You lose. It's over."

Tabitha looked quite shaken. "You…you killed my Neron?"

"Nate," John muttered warningly.

"Sure did," Nate confirmed. "We put on a show. I died and came back. Zari got her history erased until we fixed it. You tried to get a dragon to eat us, but he actually ate you. It was a whole thing."

"I think you should stop, mate," John insisted a little more forcefully.

"Why?" Nate asked. "We're just going to erase her memory anyway."

Tabitha glowered and placed her hands on the table, gripping its edges until her knuckles were white. "You killed him! You killed my love and you dare boast about it." She reached behind the nearest curtain and pulled out a long, black staff, the same one she had held the night of Neron's defeat. "Fools!" she shouted. "I'll teach you to stand in the way of Neron and his rule!" She raised the staff and began reciting a spell. The top of the staff began to glow.

Nate dropped his arms, realizing his mistake. "Uh…whoops."

"Nice going, mate," Charlie said sarcastically.

Before Tabitha could finish the spell, Nora sent a blast of purple light shooting at her, knocking her backward. "Don't even think about it," she said, holding out her hands in preparation to make a second one.

"Oh my," Tabitha said as she stumbled against the back wall. "It appears someone's moved beyond the limitations of a fairy godmother."

"It was like a wishing-the-genie-free sort of thing," Nora explained quickly. "Less talking, more surrendering."

"Never," Tabitha seethed. "Not until I get my revenge!" She lifted her staff and sent a blast of darkness through the room, knocking all the Legends to the floor except for Nora, who lunged forward, grabbing onto the ex-fairy godmother's staff. Her hands glowed as she held onto it, trying to pull it away with a spell. Tabitha fought back with one of her own, then hissed, "Like I warned you, deary, you don't know half of what you're dealing with." She slid her hands down on top of Nora's with a sudden motion and a wicked grin.

Suddenly, Nora found herself surrounded by darkness. She looked straight forward and saw an eerie, pale, ghostly shape. It looked like someone she once knew very closely. Her eyes widened in recognition and she felt goosebumps. "Dad?" she whispered.

He said nothing aloud, but mouthed her nickname, "Nora Doll." He reached out a hand toward her. She did the same, trying to touch him. Before they could meet, he pulled back, opened his mouth as if to scream, and transformed into the hideous shape of Mallus. Nora fell backward in horror. The ghostly shape vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Nora!" she heard John Constantine's voice shouting. "Nora, wake up!"

Nora blinked and found herself lying on the floor with John's face hovering over her. The other Legends either stood or knelt around the two of them. "M-my dad," she stammered. "I…I saw my dad. Where's my dad?"

John looked down at her with sympathy. "He's not here, love. Tabitha's gotten stronger than she was when we last fought her. I don't know how she did it, but she dug into the most vulnerable part of your mind and gave you a vision she knew would affect you."

Nora forced herself to sit up. She looked around, seeing six Legends but no sign of Tabitha. "Did she get away?" she asked.

"Aye," John answered. "I tried to trap her with a spell of my own, but she vanished into thin air as soon as you were down."

Nora groaned and hid her face in her hands. "I really messed it up, didn't I?"

"No," Nate said, jumping into the conversation. "I did. I overdid it talking about Neron. I should've known she'd react."

"Yeah, Pretty," Mick grunted. "Way to let the evil witch go."

Nate turned to him with a hurt look. "Hey! It's not like you were being super helpful either."

"It's okay," Zari said reassuringly. "Tabitha got away, but at least now we know what we're dealing with. We just need to find out where she went. Anyone have any ideas?"

Charlie pointed her thumb at the wall where the map hung. "Oh, I don't know, maybe…the one spot she keeps a bloody map of in her room?"

The other Legends exchanged worried glances.

"My partner's around there," Mick said.

"And Sara," Zari added.

"And Mona," Nora said.

"And now they've got an angry witch bent on revenge headed straight for them," John concluded. "One with expanded powers too, apparently."

Nate sucked in his breath. "Double double," he said, "we're in trouble."

* * *

**A/N: Hopefully this was clear from the chapter, but just to make sure no one's confused, the Tabitha they found was displaced from a point in time somewhere between passing on the fairy godmother wand to Nora and being eaten by Wixtable, which is why she didn't know about Neron's defeat but is still free from being a fairy godmother. There is another reason why her powers have been expanded since the last time the Legends saw her, but I'm planning to explain that next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	21. Something Wicked

**A/N: This was only going to be the first half of a chapter, but it was taking a super long time to write and it was getting really long, so I divided it up so that you guys wouldn't have to wait forever. Still working on the second part, but it'll be in the next chapter.**

* * *

Sara returned to the Globe through the backstage door. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her anxiety about Ray's message. _One problem at a time_, she told herself. _Find the rift first. Figure out what to do about Ava second_.

She wandered through the organized chaos of props and costumes, keeping her eyes peeled for anything unusual. As she made her way toward the stage, she heard Leonard's familiar voice, "If all the world's a stage, does that make you the star of the show?"

Sara looked up and spotted Leonard sitting on one of the higher steps of a thin staircase leading to the second level of the backstage area. "What's on the second floor?" she asked, nodded toward the top of the stairs.

"Dressing rooms, mostly," he answered.

"Anything that looks suspicious?"

"Besides several ridiculously oversized witches' cauldrons? No."

Sara tried to hide her disappointment by looking away. "Where's Mona?"

"Searching the upper seating levels." He glanced up toward the top of the stairs, then looked back down at Sara. "You know, I think there's a third floor too. I haven't checked it out yet and could use an extra pair of eyes."

Sara looked at him curiously. "You want me to come up there?"

He shrugged. "A second opinion wouldn't hurt. Normally, I case my targets for weeks, but my time's a little more limited here. Besides, you're the one with the best idea of what we're looking for."

"Which isn't much," she reminded him.

He leaned sideways and rested his head on top of the railing. "Come on, Sara," he said with a tiny smirk. "I thought you said you missed working with me."

She smiled and walked toward the bottom of the stairs. "Don't let it go to your head, Leonard," she said as she began to climb up.

"Too late," he replied as he stood up, turning around to lead the way.

The two of them climbed to the third floor behind the stage. As many props and sets as there had been downstairs, the third floor was filled with even more. Racks of costumes lay against each wall and crates containing everything from dishes to fake tree branches were crowded wherever they could fit. "This must be where they store everything," Sara observed. "I guess they haven't moved all of it downstairs for the performance yet."

"Seems like it," Leonard agreed. He watched her walk away from the stairs and begin sifting through the costumes. "So," he asked, folding his arms and leaning back against the nearest wall, "are you going to tell me what's bothering you, or do I have to guess?"

Sara stiffened and looked at him sharply. "What are you talking about?"

"Something's got you worried," he explained. "You're trying to hide it, but trust me, it isn't working."

Sara turned her back to him and continued her search. "Since when are you such an expert on me?"

"Never said I was," Leonard replied. "But I did see you walk back in from calling Raymond and you looked pretty tense. Then, you started pretending you weren't. You're not the only one here who can read people, Sara."

Sara turned back around to face him. "Is that why you invited me up here with you?" she asked him pointedly. "To question me?"

"No, but it was an added bonus."

Sara folded her arms and looked down at the floor, thinking of what to say. She wanted to wait on bringing up the new issue with the Time Bureau until after the rift was safely closed and the team was back together on the ship. At the same time, she knew it would be a relief to talk about it with someone who understood her the way Leonard always had. She hesitated for a moment, then lifted her eyes and took a step toward him. "Fine," she surrendered. "I am worried about something." Leonard nodded in acknowledgment. She continued, "Ray told me Ava called. She thinks she knows what happened with the rifts, but she only knows half the story."

"Which half?" Leonard asked.

Sara walked a couple steps closer to him, relaxing gradually as she talked. "She knows that something was removed from the timeline in a process that displaced a lot of temporal energy, creating the rifts. She also knows that it was done deliberately and by more than one person. What she doesn't know is who did it or exactly what they took." She paused, then continued, "Because of all this, the Time Bureau is sending its agents on a manhunt to arrest the ones who did it and recover whatever it was that got removed from time."

"Meaning," Leonard said, picking up where she left off, "they're really looking for us."

"Yes. But they don't know that yet."

"Hm," he said thoughtfully. "A time organization chasing down the Legends for messing with the timeline in a way they disapprove of. Sounds familiar."

Sara threw up her hands exasperatedly. "Leonard, this is serious!" She began to pace across the small storage room as she explained, "It's only a matter of time until Ava figures out that we altered the timeline. It could be hours, days, or weeks, but eventually, she'll know. Ray said I should go explain everything to her, but she's already decided that whoever did this are time criminals and it seems like she's treating it super seriously. If I come clean, how do I know she won't arrest me and the rest of the team on the spot?"

"And if you don't?" Leonard asked.

She stopped pacing and stood in front of him. "If I don't tell her the truth, then she'll still find out eventually, which means we'd basically be guaranteed to become fugitives at some point. Not that we haven't done that before, but it's not a good long-term situation. If Ava really wanted to put all her effort toward going after us, even as weak as the Time Bureau currently is, we'd have a lot more trouble to deal with than we need." She dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. "If I tell Ava the truth, she might get angry and think of us as criminals. If I don't, she also might get angry and think of us as criminals. She'll just do it a little bit later. There's no answer here that doesn't end with Ava being angry at us and thinking of us as criminals."

Leonard straightened up and stepped away from the wall, narrowing the space between them slightly. "Sounds like you're pretty worried about what Ava will think," he said, softening his usual snarky tone slightly.

"Well, yeah. She's the head of the Time Bureau. What she thinks matters."

"I know," Leonard agreed, "but don't you think you might be letting her into your head?"

"What? No!" Sara denied emphatically. "I'm just trying to make the best decision here. That means taking everything into account, including Ava's reaction."

Leonard nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah…I get that, but it seems to me like you're more concerned about avoiding a fight with her than anything else. Think of it this way: would you rather do something because it's what will make Ava the least upset, or because it's what you honestly think you should do? Personally, I'm no fan of the Time Bureau," he admitted, "but if you think you should tell them the truth, do it. Just don't do it for Ava. Do it for you."

Sara took a step backward, shaking her head. "No, you don't get it. That's not what this is about. You have no idea how the Time Bureau works or what our relationship with them is like."

"You're right," he said. "I don't. But I do know that you're a fearless captain who's never run away from a fight in her life. I'm not telling you which option to take. I'm just saying, whichever it is, I'd rather see you do it out of your own will than out of fear of someone else."

Sara rolled her eyes. "No, Leonard. You don't understand. Just leave it alone, okay?"

Leonard held up his hands innocently. "Fine, fine. If you say so..." He reached behind him and picked up a crown that had been sitting on top of a box full of royal-looking clothes and smirked mischievously as he handed it to, "...Your Worship."

Sara tried to hold back a smile. "Are you trying to distract me now?"

"Depends. Is it working?"

"Only a little." She looked down at the crown. "If I remember the story correctly, wouldn't I have to kill someone for this?"

"Not you," Leonard replied. "You're better than that."

Sara smiled a little and, after a moment of hesitation, took the crown and placed it on her head. "It's a little big," she commented as it fit loosely over her hair. Finally, she got it to stay in place and looked back at Leonard. "How do I look?" she asked with a teasing grin.

He stared at her silently for a moment. _Beautiful_, he mentally answered. _Always beautiful_. With a mockingly grand gesture, he knelt down on one knee and turned his eyes to the floor. "At your service, Your Majesty," he drawled.

Sara laughed. "You know, if the others could see this, they might think you actually have a fun side."

He looked up at her, "Good thing they can't. I'd hate for something like that to get out. It would really screw up my reputation."

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Sara stepped aside to pick up a fake sword leaning against the opposite wall, then returned to her original place. She tapped the sword on his shoulders as he lowered his head again. "I dub thee Sir Leonard of Central City," she declared before tossing the prop aside.

"What an honor." He looked up at her again and, just a little bit too caught up in the game, reached up and took her hand in his, bringing it close to his lips to kiss it. Then, he realized what he was doing and froze. _She said a little flirting was fine_, he thought, _but what if this is too far?_

Sara noticed his brow furrow as he deliberated. "Leonard?" she asked, no longer attempting to mimic the voice of a queen. "You okay?"

He quickly dropped his hand, letting go of hers in the process. "Yeah. Peachy. Just…thinking." He stood up and backed away from her a couple of steps. Noticing that she was still closely watching him, he reiterated, "I'm fine."

Sara looked at him with visible confusion but shrugged it off after a moment. "Well, that was fun," she said, removing the crown from her head, "but now we need to get back to the mission."

"Right." He turned his head to avert his eyes from her. "The mission."

The two of them separated and continued their search, each on opposite sides of the room. While Leonard's back was turned, Sara threw a glance his way, watching him fondly for only a few seconds, but she turned away again before he could notice.

* * *

Mona wandered through the corridors behind the top level of seats. Finding it uncomfortably confined, she hummed a calming tune to herself as she walked along. She didn't see anything rift-like, but suddenly heard a strange sound. She stopped humming and heard it again. It sounded like footsteps. She froze and looked around nervously. _It must be whoever left the door unlocked_, she figured. _But who would that be?_ She crept down the corridor toward the source of the sound.

A man turned the corner nearest to her and gasped as he nearly bumped into her. He had a brown mustache with a small beard and carried a well-worn notebook in his hands. "Great Caesar's ghost!" he exclaimed in surprise, nearly dropping his notebook. "Who are you?" he asked as he regained his composure. "And what are you doing here, so long before the next performance?"

Mona recognized him immediately. "Oh my gosh!" she squealed. "William Shakespeare!" She reached out her hand and shook his excitedly before he had the chance to protest. "Very pleased to meet you, sir. Mona Wu. Huge fan."

"Fan?" he repeated confusedly.

"Uh…never mind. I just really love your work, sir."

Shakespeare's face softened a little, though he still looked a bit concerned. "Ah, well, I am most flattered to hear that." He glanced aside toward the seats, then asked her, "But pray tell, why are you here? Not plotting mischief for my show, I hope?"

Mona shook her head. "No! Never. Trying to prevent it, actually."

His face turned grave. "As am I." He lowered his voice nearly to a whisper and explained, "There are many unpleasant rumors in the streets warning of danger and curses. They say I asked for trouble by putting real spells in my witches' mouths."

"Did you?" Mona asked.

"Heavens, no!" Shakespeare immediately denied. "I am neither foolish enough to do such a thing on purpose, nor unlucky enough to do it by accident." He paused hesitantly, then added, "However, should any trouble occur during the performance, I have no doubt that people will take it as confirmation. Thus, here I am, ensuring that nothing here has the potential to transform my fictional tragedy into a real one."

"Well," Mona said cheerfully, "my friends and I are here to help with that."

"Friends?" he echoed, looking around the corridor. "I see no one else with you."

"Oh, they're backstage. Don't worry!" she quickly assured him. "They're not sabotaging anything. They're just making sure nobody else does."

The playwright frowned and gave her a suspicious look. "Your story is quite strange. First, you enter the theater while it is not open to the public. Then, you claim to have come with friends who I do not see with you. And, last, you say that you are here to prevent trouble, almost as if you are aware of a plot." He took a step closer, analyzing her. "Are you aware of a plot? Or were you, perhaps, sent here by someone?"

"Well yes, but…not exactly. It's complicated."

"It would seem to be." Shakespeare glanced back over his shoulder, then back at Mona. "As much as I appreciate this meeting, if you cannot tell me the reason for your presence, then I must ask you and your friends to leave. You have an honest look about you, but with so many rumors spreading, I dare not take chances."

"And I totally get that," Mona replied, "but you have to believe me when I say that there's something going on here that you aren't going to understand, but my friends and I do and we're taking care of it."

"Why would I not understand?"

Mona tried to think of a way to explain to a man in the early 1600's that a hole had been ripped in the fabric of time itself somewhere in or near the theater and it now needed to be fixed with a blast of temporal energy from a guy with a flying, shrinking, super suit. She came up with nothing. "You just wouldn't, okay? It's a lot."

"A…lot?" The playwright seemed a bit confused by the expression.

"Yeah, it's…uh…overwhelming. For you. But not for us because we know how to deal with it."

"Indeed?" He seemed a bit amused by her insistence. "And what manner of people are you and your friends? Witch hunters?"

"No, no," Mona corrected him. "It's not the witch thing. We're not here about any magical witch problems. This is something totally different that it would take a super long time for me to explain to you. No offense!" she quickly exclaimed. "Because seriously, you're a legend, sir!"

Suddenly, a booming sound echoed through the Globe. Mona and Shakespeare exchanged concerned glances, then ran together out of the corridor and into the seating area. Looking down, Mona spotted the cause of the sound: a cloud of black smoke in the middle of the groundlings' area. As it cleared, she recognized a familiar shape and gasped, "Tabitha!"

Shakespeare turned to look at her. "Do you know this woman?"

"Unfortunately. And I take it back, we do have a magical witch problem."

"Oh dear."

Tabitha looked up and saw Mona's and Shakespeare's faces staring at her from the balcony seats. "It seems I just can't be rid of you Legends," she sneered, raising her staff to send a blast of dark-colored energy directly at the two onlookers.

Mona grabbed Shakespeare by the collar and yanked him back from the blast, hiding on the ground behind the seats. "Mr. Shakespeare," she instructed, "you have to get out of here. It's not safe." She cupped her hands over her faced and giggled, "Oh my gosh, I'm on a mission with William Shakespeare. This is so freaking cool!"

"I will abandon neither this theater not my play," Shakespeare insisted.

"Then come with me to find somewhere safe," Mona proposed, "where we can draw up a plan. You're too important to lose, sir."

A second blast hit the row of seats in front of them, throwing them back and against each other. "Very well," he conceded. "Lead on, though I continue to find you a most strange young woman."

"Oh, you have no idea," she replied, already feeling Wolfie begin to pick up on her accelerated heartbeat. Once the coast was clear, she darted back to the corridor with Shakespeare behind her.

* * *

"What was that?" Sara asked, hearing the booming sound from the far end of the backstage storage room.

Leonard straightened up and let his hand hover over his cold gun warily. "It came from down there," he said, nodding toward the stairs.

Sara bolted down the staircase, pulling out and assembling the retractable pieces of her staff as she did. Leonard followed, but she reached the bottom long before him. She ran out onto the stage and saw someone she really wished she didn't recognize. "Well, look who's back," she said, catching Tabitha's attention.

Tabitha stopped firing at Mona and spun around to face the leader of the Legends. "Ah, the infamous Captain Lance," she taunted. "Tell me, deary, was it you who gave the order to kill my Neron?"

"Neron broke his own promise," Sara told her. "It was his mistake and it cost him his life. Come quietly and I'll spare you yours."

"Not until I get my revenge!" Tabitha shouted, stretching out her staff. The blast of energy would have hit Sara, but she leaped over the edge of the stage to dodge it and lunged at the other woman with her weapon. Tabitha swung her staff around to parry the attack. They traded blow for blow, with Tabitha throwing the occasional blasts of magic at her opponent and Sara nimbly jumping, flipping, or sliding out of the way each time.

Leonard reached the stage and aimed his cold gun down toward Tabitha. He didn't know exactly who this weird woman was, but she was an enemy of Sara and the Legends, so that was all he figured he really needed to know for the moment. More questions could be asked later, when she wasn't a threat. Leonard adjusted his aim slightly but couldn't pull the trigger until Sara was out of the way, which seemed impossible considering how much she was moving. "Sara," he called out, "give me a clean shot!"

Sara swung her feet around, gripped Tabitha's staff in her own hands, and maneuvered herself to stand behind the witch, pulling the staff backward toward Tabitha's neck to prevent her from fighting back. "Is this clean enough?" she asked.

Tabitha struggled for a moment, then suddenly gripped Sara's hands tightly against the staff. It glowed in their hands and Sara felt herself thrown into darkness. She looked down and saw faces on all sides. So many faces. She felt a sinking feeling as she began to recognize them. It had been a long time since she'd seen any of them, but she knew who they were. "No," she whispered. "No. Not this. Not now."

She tried to find something else to look at, anything. Not finding much success, she finally stared down at her hands. To her horror, they were covered in blood. It didn't take much time for her to understand what that meant. "Oh…oh no. No. No, no, no." She tried to wipe the blood off on the ground, then her clothes. Neither option worked. She furiously rubbed her hands together, hoping at least some of it would come off from the friction. When she stopped for a moment to look at them again, they were still just as bloody. If anything, they were even bloodier. She looked up for help, but only saw the crowd of faces condemning her, then looked back down at her hands, staring at them as if in shock.

Leonard saw Sara fall to her knees behind Tabitha. He jumped off the stage and fired a cold blast at the witch as she attempted to flee. She managed to shield herself with magic, then vanished from sight. Leonard turned again to Sara and realized that she hadn't moved from where she'd fallen. She was staring at her hands with a look unlike anything he'd seen on her face before. He ran to her and knelt down in front of her. "Sara," he said softly, his voice wavering with worry. "Sara, what's wrong?"

"I…I killed them," she whimpered, not looking up. "I killed them all."

"No. Stop talking like that. Snap out of it." He searched her face for clues, trying to understand.

"Their faces," she said. "All the people I killed. And their blood. It's everywhere. It won't come off. I killed them. I'm a killer."

Leonard felt his heart break as he heard her say those words. "No! No, you're not, Sara. Don't you dare say that again." When she didn't respond, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you hear me, Sara? That's not who you are."

"So much blood," she whispered, continuing to look at her hands. "I can't get it off."

Leonard began to internally panic as feelings of helplessness grew within him. He inferred that the strange magical woman – whoever she was – had done something to mess with Sara's head, but he hadn't the faintest idea what she'd done or how to undo it. Magic was confusing enough on its own, and the intense emotions he felt at the sight of Sara being harmed didn't make anything clearer. He looked down at her hands and understood what she was seeing. Trying to stay calm, he took both of his hands and laid them in her open palms. "Look," he said gently, his voice barely above a whisper. "There's no blood. There's nothing there. Just me. It's just me."

She felt his hands touch hers and looked up for the first time. She was still surrounded by darkness, but the faces of her past victims were beginning to fade. She wrapped her hands tightly around his and shut her eyes, blocking out the last traces of the vision. "Just you," she breathed.

"Just me." He leaned in closer and continued to speak softly, saying every possible calming thing that came into his mind at that moment, "I'm here. I've got you. You're safe. You're not a killer. That's not you anymore." He took a breath and leaned in even closer. "You're so strong, Sara. I know you are. You're going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay. Just…come back to me. Please come back to me."

Sara blinked a few times, then fully opened her eyes. The illusion of blood was gone, as were the faces and the darkness. She continued to clutch Leonard's hands tightly and leaned forward, resting her head against his chest. The rhythm of his heartbeat was unexpectedly comforting. Eventually, she relaxed her hands, letting his go. He wrapped his arms carefully around her and held her close as her breathing gradually slowed to match his.

Leonard kept his eyes wide open and alert over Sara's shoulder, watching out for any sign of Tabitha coming back. Simultaneously, he whispered into her ear, "You're a hero, Sara. You're the strongest, bravest person I know. You're so much more than whatever she just made you think you are."

Sara lifted her head and sat up straight. Leonard loosened his arms but didn't fully let go. They looked each other in the eyes. He was relieved to see that the look of horror on her face was gone. "That was Tabitha," she explained. "We've fought her before. She made me see things. Things from my past. People I killed…"

"And blood on your hands," Leonard finished for her.

"Yeah." She tilted her head sideways, her sense of humor making a return. "A bit too on the nose, wasn't it?"

He visibly relaxed as he heard her joking again. It was a good sign. "Well, it wasn't exactly subtle," he agreed.

Sara jumped back up to her feet. "Do you know where she went?" she asked as Leonard also stood up. "Did you see?"

"No," he said, still not taking his eyes off her, both out of awe at how quickly she had bounced back and fear that she would be hit with a second wave of whatever had just happened. "She must be long gone by now."

Sara looked down in frustration, then turned back to Leonard as a lightbulb went off in her head. "No, she's not," she realized. "Tabitha is way more powerful now than the last time we fought her. She's the anachronism, and she's drawing power from the energy of the rift to enhance her magic. That's how she was able to create a vision from elements of my past. She didn't enter my mind. She manipulated the power of time to use my past against me. She's going to want to stay close to the rift because if she goes too long without returning to her source, her powers will be limited."

"So," Leonard said, understanding immediately, "if the rift is here…"

"She'll be back for round two," Sara finished for him. She picked up her staff from where it had fallen on the ground and held it front of her, prepared to fight. "And this time, we'll be ready."


	22. The Battle of the Globe

Mona and Shakespeare waited quietly behind the door of a backstage storage room. They heard various magic words, blasting noises, and at least one cold gun activation, followed eventually by silence. "I think she's gone," Mona whispered.

Shakespeare scratched his head. "How? What could thy friends have possibly done to defeat the magic of an evil witch?"

"You'd be surprised," she replied. "Come on, we can come out now."

The two of them slipped out of the storage room and headed toward the stage. Mona peeked out through the curtains and spotted Sara and Snart standing together in the groundlings' area. "Guys! Hey!" she exclaimed as she ran out, pulling Shakespeare behind her. "Look who I found!"

The other two Legends turned around at the same time. Sara looked significantly less surprised than Leonard. "Oh, look," she said nonchalantly. "Mona found Shakespeare. I guess it was bound to happen."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Does she have a habit of befriending famous people on missions?"

"Kind of. It was Jane Austen last time."

"Huh. Cute."

"I must say," Shakespeare said, speaking up to the group for the first time, "you people appear to be quite strange."

"Thanks," Sara said, flashing a playful smirk before becoming serious again. "That was our old enemy, Tabitha. She'll be back, and when she's here, she'll be looking for something. Something very strange, even stranger than us." She took a step closer to Shakespeare and asked him directly, "If you had to hide something magical somewhere inside this theater, where would you hide it?"

Shakespeare frowned as he processed the question. "I…I would not know. Perhaps beneath the stage? There is a trap door to allow the actors to descend…"

"Already looked there," Leonard interrupted. "Found nothing."

"Begging your pardon," the playwright said, changing the subject, "but who are you people? I have yet to hear a full answer and I think I ought to know to whom I am speaking."

"We're just a bunch of people who want what's best for your show," Sara answered matter-of-factly. "Right now, it looks like we're its best hope until Tabitha's gone. That's all you need to know for now."

Before Shakespeare could protest further, Ray's miniature shape slipped under the main door, flew into the center of the theater, and expanded to full size in front of the group. "Hey, guys!" he said with a friendly wave. "I tried to come in from the top, but there must be some weird winds up there or something because the suit was acting up like crazy and…oh my goodness, that's William Shakespeare!" His eyes widened excitedly. Then, he looked down at his metallic suit. "Well, this is awkward." He looked back up and addressed Shakespeare, "You're probably pretty confused right now, aren't you?"

"Yes, I should say so," the playwright replied, slowly taking in Ray's futuristic suit.

"Don't worry," Ray assured him cheerfully. "That's normal. We'll be out of here soon anyway, sir. By the way, _Much Ado About Nothing_? Love it!" He turned to Sara and pulled out his temporal energy gun. "So, where's the rift?"

"Somewhere in the theater," Sara answered. "We know because Tabitha was here."

Ray gasped. "Tabitha? Didn't she die? Unless…she's the anachronism?"

Snart pointed at him and nodded. "Bingo."

"And she's using the rift's energy to enhance her powers," Sara explained. "She showed up here, fought us, and got away, but she will be back. Right now, we need to get ready." She turned to Mona and instructed, "Take Shakespeare to find somewhere to hide and stay with him."

Mona frowned. "But I want to help!"

"You can help by keeping the world's most influential playwright from dying before he writes _Julius Caesar,_" Sara replied. "We don't know what other powers Tabitha might have or what kind of damage she can do. If things don't go well for us out here, we'll need Wolfie as a last line of defense. Understand?" Mona nodded. "Good. Go!" Sara pointed at Shakespeare. "You too, buddy."

Shakespeare looked like he was about to argue, but eventually gave up. There was too much going on for him to even know what he was arguing about. He followed Mona away to locate a hiding spot.

Sara turned her attention to Ray and Leonard. "Okay, so now we need a plan."

"Should we barricade the doors?" Ray suggested. "That might keep her out. Or delay her, at least."

"No," Sara said. "She can just use her magic to appear inside. That's what she did the first time. We need to prepare for what she's going to do once she's already here." She turned around and climbed onto the stage. After walking back and forth to take in a full view of the theater, she looked down at her teammates. "Ray," she ordered, "station yourself at the top level of seats. Keep your eyes peeled for Tabitha. You can fly and, as far as we know, she can't, so that puts you at an advantage if she comes after you while you're up there. Snart," she said, turning to the other Legend, "we'll stay on the ground. If we go backstage and each cover one side, we can watch all angles from behind the curtains and spot her before she spots us."

"Unless she shows up backstage," Leonard pointed out.

"Right," Sara agreed. "In that case, we'll have to take her down. I'll send a signal to Ray if that happens, something he will definitely be able to see."

Ray gave her a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan, Captain!" He shrank down and flew up into the balcony seats.

Leonard followed Sara onto the stage and behind the curtains. "Hey," he said once they were fully backstage, "Sara."

"What?" she asked, barely looking at him while she analyzed the area for the most strategically beneficial location to stand in.

He struggled to put his thoughts into words. He knew she was strong enough to recover quickly and keep fighting, and he knew she'd bounced back from worse experiences before. All the same, after what Tabitha had done, he felt like he needed to make absolutely certain that she was okay. "I just…about what just happened…"

Sara turned around and looked him in the eyes. She understood immediately. "I'm fine, Leonard," she assured him.

"You sure?"

She turned away from him before those earnest, kind, beautiful eyes could suck her in again. "Yes, I'm sure. I've been through worse and, more importantly, we have a job to do. Stay focused and don't dwell on it."

He nodded and moved aside to take his position on the opposite end of the stage. Once he was in place, he sent a sideways glance her direction. She seemed to be acting normally and didn't look too rattled by Tabitha's vision. Still, the recent memory of Sara calling herself a killer with that pained sound in her voice made him furious. No one had the right to make her feel that way. _Whenever Tabitha does get here_, he thought as he rested his hand over the handle of the cold gun, _I am not letting her get away again._

* * *

Ray peered over the edge of balcony, scanning the ground floor below him slowly from one side to the other. He didn't see any sign of Tabitha, but he knew she could arrive at any moment, so he continued to look around. Without thinking, he let his eyes drift up to the open roof of the Globe. Between the rays of sunlight streaming down through it, parts of its rim seemed to have a strange tint, almost like a glow. At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the longer he looked, the more certain he was that he wasn't imagining it. "Hey," he realized, speaking only to himself, "is that the…"

Before he could finish his sentence, a blast of energy hit him in the back. His suit absorbed most of the impact, but he still stumbled against the railing. He spun around to see Tabitha, pointing her staff directly at him. "Dr. Palmer," she sneered. "We meet again."

"Tabitha," he said awkwardly, trying not to anger her more than he had to, "the sixteen hundreds seem to be treating you pretty well. You…uh…seen any good plays lately?"

She remained unphased and took a step closer, glowering threateningly. "You were my Neron's plan to rule this world. You should have remained in Hell." A smug, evil smirk crossed her face. "But at least I have the pleasure of killing you myself."

Ray extended his arm and shot a blast from his arm, throwing Tabitha backward and into the corridor behind the seats before she could take another shot. "That's for killing my best friend!" he exclaimed. Then, he pulled out the temporal energy gun and aimed it high. "I mean, he's okay now, but…never mind. Say goodbye to your power source, Tabitha." He fired a shot toward the opening in the roof.

At the last second, Tabitha reached out her arm and recited a quick spell. Ray's hand jerked out of position, ruining the shot. The gun slipped out of his grip and landed three floors below. By the time he regained control, Tabitha had disappeared. "Oh no!" he exclaimed, staring down at the gun. "Captain! Snart!"

Instantly, Tabitha materialized again on the ground. She picked up the gun. "Ha!" she taunted. "You Legends really thought a silly weapon like this would be enough to stop me? Pathetic, deary. Utterly pathetic."

Ray aimed a shot down at her. She lifted her staff and a thin bolt of golden energy sparked off the edge of the roof's opening, hitting Ray's suit with what felt like a giant electric shock. He ducked down into the seats to recover.

Behind the stage, Sara watched the events that unfolded. She looked up at a nearby rope – no doubt intended to hold a curtain or prop in place – and analyzed its position, then hurriedly climbed up a few feet. She reached under her skirt and pulled out a knife she'd strapped to her leg, then cut the rope free, throwing her weight forward so she swung out over the stage. She let go and landed safely behind Tabitha. She reached for the gun and succeeded in grabbing it, but Tabitha put up a fight. The two of them traded punches and kicks until Tabitha raised her staff to summon another bolt of temporal energy from the rift in the roof. Sara jumped out of the way, landing only a few inches from where it hit the floor. Tabitha pushed her back even farther with a shot of dark energy from her own staff. Sara slid behind the first row of seats to dodge it. Tabitha lifted her staff again to send another attack from the rift.

To the witch's shock, the top of the staff was suddenly covered in a thick layer of ice. Tabitha stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the stage. Leonard Snart stood at the edge of the stage, his cold gun still glowing blue from the shot.

"Ah," Tabitha commented, studying her new attacker. "The new one."

"Not as new as you think," Leonard replied, glaring at her menacingly.

Sara lifted her head over the top of the seats, making eye contact with Leonard for barely a second, then ducked down again. That was all she had to do to send him her message: keep Tabitha distracted. She silently crawled behind the seats, making her way slowly toward the aisle.

Tabitha held her staff in front of her and whispered some magic words, instantly thawing it. She took a step toward Leonard, who remained in position with his gun pointed at her. "I have no quarrel with you, deary," she said. "I'm only after my revenge. You didn't kill Neron or send me to Hell. I'll give you one chance to get yourself out of this mess you've managed to mix yourself up in."

"And if I don't take it?" he asked, adjusting his aim to stay centered on her.

"Then you've made your choice," she replied coldly. "You've chosen the Legends and death."

Leonard smirked. "Been there, done that."

Tabitha raised her eyebrows in surprise. Sara crept out of the seats and nodded at Leonard. He blasted a long, blue stream of cold through the air, sweeping side to side. Tabitha ducked to the ground to avoid being hit, exactly as Sara had hoped. She took advantage of the distraction and ran in, grabbing the temporal energy gun and pulling it away from her.

Leonard stopped shooting to allow Sara to run a few feet away from Tabitha. A miniaturized Ray flew through the air and landed on her shoulder. "The rift," his small voice explained into her ear. "It's the roof. It's hidden by the sunlight. Shoot up and you'll hit it."

Sara prepared to shoot, but Tabitha sent another bolt down from the rift, knocking both Ray and Sara to the ground. The force of the blast sent the temporal energy gun flying across the room. Sara jumped back to her feet immediately. Ray expanded to his full size and followed her to charge toward where the gun had landed. Tabitha did the same and arrived first. Before she could grab it, Sara and Ray reached her. They each grabbed one of her arms, pulling her back as she struggled against them.

In the midst of their fight, Leonard rushed down from the stage, ran in front of them, and picked up the gun in his left hand while his right still clutched the cold gun. He took a few steps back, then looked to Sara for instruction.

She let go of Tabitha's arm and said, "Leonard, it's the roof. The rift is in the roof."

Tabitha swung her staff around and knocked Ray sideways into Sara, causing them both to tumble to the floor. She sent a series of dark blasts directly at Leonard, interspersed with rapid fire slivers of temporal energy raining down from the rift itself. He tried to stand still long enough to take his shot but couldn't do so while dodging her attacks. Quickly, he slid Ray's invention into the holster under his cloak, keeping the cold gun accessible in his hands, and bolted back up to the stage. Turning around for a moment, he shouted at Tabitha, "You want it so bad? Come and get it!" Then, he disappeared behind the curtains.

Tabitha vanished in a puff of smoke. With a crash, the front door of the theater suddenly burst open. Sara and Ray spun around, expecting to see Tabitha making a surprise return to the scene from another angle. Instead, they saw Mick charge through the door, followed closely by Nora, Charlie, Nate, Zari, and John Constantine. They tumbled in as one large mass until they reached Sara and Ray.

"Whew!" Nate exclaimed, catching his breath. "I was worried we were too late."

"Too late for what?" Ray asked.

"Tabitha," he panted. "She's alive. She's the anachronism and she's coming here."

"Oh," Ray replied. "Yeah, we already knew that. We're kind of the middle of a fight with her, actually."

"What?" Nate said, eyes wide with surprise.

Sara clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Hey! Legends!" The group turned to her. She pointed at the stage. "Snart's back there and he needs our help! Hurry!" She took off running, climbed up onto the stage, and ran behind the curtains. Mick clenched his fist around his weapon and followed her without a moment's thought. The other Legends exchanged concerned glances, then did the same.

* * *

Backstage, Leonard climbed up to the third floor, trying to find the most unexpected location possible. Tabitha reappeared facing him. He pointed the cold gun at her, activating it in preparation to shoot. She returned the gesture by pointing her staff at him. "I gave you a warning," she reminded him.

"Your mistake," he replied. He fired a blast of blue cold at her. To his surprise, she spun her staff in a circle and said a brief incantation, which redirected his shot away from her and into the floorboards, turning a plank icy and brittle. Leonard stepped back to avoid falling through, but now found himself backed into a corner. He shut his eyes for a moment, reminding himself, _Sara. She hurt Sara._ He opened his eyes and glared at her with intense determination, aiming his cold gun at her once again.

Tabitha smirked amusedly. "You really don't know when to give up, do you, deary?"

"Guess not."

"Well," she replied, "if you're so committed to defending the Legends, I'll deal with you the same way I plan to deal with them." She raised her staff high and pointed a finger at Leonard, reciting a long string of magic words that meant nothing to him. The staff glowed bright and generated sparks of light similar in appearance to the energy of the rift. A thick stream of golden-white light shot out from the top of her staff, down to her hand, and outward in the direction of her finger, landing directly in the center of Leonard's chest.

He expected to see a vision from his past like Sara had. In fact, ever since finding out what she'd seen, he'd been mentally preparing himself for the images he thought might come. He mostly expected to see an illusion of his father, although he knew there were a few other options from his life to choose from. True, he wasn't holding onto Tabitha's staff as Sara had been, but it seemed likely to him that she'd try the same trick in some way or another.

Instead, he was hit with a hot, burning sensation, like a less intense version of what he'd felt at the Oculus. Partly from pain and partly from surprise, he fell back against the wall. The energy of whatever she was doing surged through him. He gritted his teeth and braced himself against the wall, waiting for it to be over.

Tabitha felt a strange jolt as she directed her power at him. A force pushed back against her, as if the same stream of energy was flowing in both directions. She let go in surprise.

"Well, that was…unexpected," she said, stepping back slightly. "A force like that should have killed you."

"Yeah, well," he rasped, still reeling, "I'm pretty hard to kill."

"Or, at the very least," she continued, not acknowledging his comment, "knocked you unconscious very quickly. Either way, absolutely nothing should have returned back to me…" she trailed off, trying to piece together what had happened.

Leonard leaned against the wall for support, still wincing in pain. _Sara. She hurt Sara. Fight back for Sara._ He reached subtly for his cold gun again, hoping she was too distracted to notice. She almost was, but she caught him just before he could fire. She held out her hand and pinned his arm to the wall with an invisible force. "I think I know what happened here," she declared, seeming a lot more pleased than Leonard wanted her to be. He felt the same force pin the rest of his body against the wall, trapping him. "I really ought to thank you, deary. You've just made my job much more interesting."

Tabitha kept her hand held out to maintain the magical force holding him in place. With her other hand, she raised her staff in the air. She began to recite a long incantation. Sparks and slivers of light started to sputter all around Leonard. He felt something much stronger this time. Something powerful and, though he hated to admit it even to himself, frightening. It felt like she was trying to tear something out from deep inside him. This was much closer to how the Oculus had felt. He didn't know what was going on. He only knew that he couldn't move and was growing weaker by the second. He shut his eyes and tried not to scream…

A stream of fire shot through the room as Mick reached the third floor. Tabitha ceased her incantation and dove for cover. Without her magic pinning him up, Leonard collapsed. Mick ran after the witch with an angry grimace, chasing her as far from Leonard as possible. Sara came at her from the other side, attacking with her batons until she spotted Leonard falling to the ground. She landed one last strike against Tabitha before rushing to the other side of the room, sliding into place to catch him in her arms just before he could hit the floor.

"Leonard!" she exclaimed frantically as she looked over his face. "Leonard, are you okay?" His eyes were closed and, while he didn't look outwardly injured, he wasn't responding to her. "Please," she said softly. "Please be okay. It's too soon. Please be okay."

On the other side, Zari quickly arrived, taking Sara's place. Tabitha held her own against the attacks from Mick's flames on one side and Zari's wind on the other, but it was enough to keep her too busy to get away. John reached the top of the stairs next and joined the fight. He spread his hands, beginning to create a portal to trap Tabitha. The witch acted first and sent a massive blast of dark energy in all directions, knocking all three of her attackers away. She smirked and stepped toward John first.

"Oh, deary," she said, waving her staff threateningly, "you have no idea how long I've wanted to do this."

"I think I can guess," John muttered, returning to his feet. "Give it your best shot, you old bat!"

Tabitha prepared to strike, but Nora reached the third floor first and sent a shot of purple light between her and John. She ran in between them as it cleared and stared Tabitha down. "Not on my watch," she declared.

Charlie and Nate then ascended the stairs and sprinted together to Sara's side. Sara removed her focus from Leonard just long enough to pull the temporal energy gun out of his holster and toss it to Charlie. "Shoot at the sky," she ordered. "The rift is in the roof. She'll be weaker without it." She turned to Nate. "Go with her just in case something goes wrong. Make sure nothing stops the rift from being shut down." The two of them nodded and bolted down the stairs.

Tabitha glanced at the staircase and saw them take off with the gun. She moved slightly to the side as if to chase them, but Ray's full-sized shape suddenly expanded to fill the exit, blocking her from leaving. "Not so fast," Ray said cheerily before adding with a smile at Nora, "You've got this, babe!"

Before Tabitha could disappear, Nora grabbed onto her staff with both hands, still staring her down fiercely.

"Careful, love," John warned as he watched. "Don't let her do you like last time."

"She won't," Nora told him. She started reciting a long spell, speaking each word progressively louder. Tabitha placed her own hands on the staff, beginning a counter spell.

Downstairs, Charlie and Nate reached the ground and looked up at the open roof. "So…just shoot straight up?" Nate suggested. "Seems a little too easy."

"Eh," Charlie said with a shrug. "I'm not complaining." She aimed the weapon and fired.

The golden glowing shot went straight through the roof. As it hit the air over the theater, it suddenly shattered into millions of tiny sparks. A wild gust of wind swept through the building in all directions as the rift vanished.

Unaware of what was happening downstairs, Tabitha pressed her hands over Nora's, trying to summon another vision. She gasped in shock as Nora continued to recite her spell with no sign of distraction or hesitation. Suddenly, Tabitha became aware of her power fading and let go of the staff in a panic. She shouted a very fast incantation and vanished, just half a second before the staff splintered into pieces in Nora's hands.

Nora threw the pieces on the ground and looked all around the room. "No!" she exclaimed in frustration. "She got away."

"By the looks of it," John agreed, "she used up the last of her power to escape before you finished with her."

"Hey," Ray pointed out, walking closer, "look on the bright side: we won!"

"Yeah," Zari said. "The rift is shut down, Tabitha's not a threat anymore, and nobody died."

"Snart!" Mick exclaimed as he noticed Sara still sitting with Leonard. He bolted toward them and knelt down beside his partner. "What happened?" he demanded.

"I don't know," Sara said, still focused completely on Leonard's face. "Tabitha must have done something to him." She leaned a little closer toward him as the rest of the team gradually assembled around them. "Leonard," she said, her voice quivering, "it's Sara. Can you hear me? Please say something."

The team waited in tense silence for a moment. Then, to their relief, Leonard's eyes opened slightly, and he let out a low groan. "Ugh, please don't tell me I got taken out by someone's grandma."

Mick grinned joyfully. "Snart!" He patted him on the shoulder. "What'd you do that for, huh? You trying to scare me?"

"Hardly," Leonard muttered, forcing himself to sit up. He opened his eyes all the way and the room came into focus. He was also aware of someone's arms around him. It didn't take long for him to realize they were Sara's. He turned his head slightly to look at her and started to smile, but it turned into a wince as he remembered how much pain he was in. He sucked in his breath and tilted his head back, resting it against the wall behind him. "Did she get away?" he asked.

Nora crossed her arms and frowned. "She did. She might not have if I'd said that spell faster. It's my fault."

"No, Nora," Sara assured her. "Without your help, she'd still be wreaking havoc. Give yourself some credit." She turned her gaze back to Leonard and asked, "What did she do to you?"

"Not sure," he replied. "Nothing nice, though. I can promise you that." He shifted his posture and groaned as he felt his body ache. Sara laid her hand on his chest to steady him against the wall. He took a deep breath in, then let it out. The pain was starting to fade. As it did, his snarky attitude began to return. He looked around at the eyes staring at him, Mick, and Sara. "Well, what are you looking at?" he drawled. "Shouldn't you guys be erasing Shakespeare's memory or something?"

"Wait," Zari said, holding up her hand. "Hold it. Did you guys meet Shakespeare?"

"He's hiding somewhere in the theater," Ray explained. "We told Mona to guard him just in case."

"Wow," Zari said. "Nate is for sure going to insist on meeting him before we wipe his memory."

"Legends," Sara ordered, her confident captain's tone returning, "we need to do a full sweep of the theater. Make sure nothing got left behind or altered that could affect the show."

Mick rolled his eyes. "Why? We already stopped the witch. Nothing's going to happen to _Ma_-"

Ray pounced on him and covered his mouth. "_The Scottish Play_!" he quickly corrected him. He looked up at the ceiling as if speaking to an invisible force above them. "He meant _The Scottish Play_."

Mick growled from behind Ray's hand. When he finally let go, he muttered, "Next time you pull that move, Haircut, I'll bite you."

Zari raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we just defeat the source of the curse?"

"Better safe than sorry, love," John replied. "I've heard too many stories about this play going awry to assume banishing Tabitha is enough to remove the risk for all eternity."

Sara held up her hand, regaining control of the conversation. "I'll help Mona deal with Shakespeare. Ray and Mick, you two help Snart back to the Waverider. Gideon will know how to take care of him." She turned her head to make eye contact with Snart again. "I mean, is that okay with you?" she asked. "If you're not ready to move yet…"

He tried to smile at her again. This time, he succeeded. "Don't worry about me, Canary," he assured her. "I'll be all right."

"Good," she said. She stood up, then helped Leonard to his feet while Mick helped him on the other side. Once he was steady, Ray switched places with her. As he and Mick helped Leonard to the ship – not without a few snarky remarks directed at Ray – the rest of the team dispersed to sweep the theater. Sara remained in place, a serious, thoughtful expression on her face.

Nora approached her cautiously. "Captain?" she said. "Is everything okay? You seem a little…worried."

"Snart got hurt and the person responsible got away," Sara replied. "Of course I'm worried." She hesitated, then looked directly at Nora. "Also, your boyfriend talked to Ava. She thinks the rifts were caused by time criminals and is sending agents to hunt them down."

"Oh." Nora nodded understandingly. "And, uh, what are you going to do about that?"

Sara thought for a minute. Her eyes rested on the discarded costume crown laying on the floor against the wall and recalled Leonard's earlier words. She glanced in the direction Leonard, Mick, and Ray had gone, then answered, "I'm going to do what's best for the team."


	23. Much Ado About Snart

Nate and Zari stood together in the middle of the Globe, facing Mona and Shakespeare. "So," Nate said, barely holding back his excitement, "you're William Shakespeare? _The_ William Shakespeare?"

The playwright nodded. "The only one of whom I know."

"Dude," Nate gushed, "that is so sick." He noted Shakespeare's confused expression and added, "We…uh…talk differently where we're from. Don't worry about it." He turned to Mona. "Sorry you had to miss out on the action, Mona."

"Actually," she replied with a smile, "Shakespeare and I bonded a lot."

Zari raised an eyebrow. "Bonded?"

"About stories," Mona explained. "Especially love stories. We basically brainstormed romantic plotlines the whole time. I've got a million ideas for Mick now."

"Oh," Zari said with a shrug. "Well, I don't know what else I expected."

Nora and Charlie entered the room. Charlie held a small jar in her hands. She walked over to Mona and handed it to her. "Got you a new mate."

Mona held up the jar and peered into it. Inside sat a tiny bear who seemed just as confused as Shakespeare. "Hey, little guy," Mona said to the creature before looking back at Nora and Charlie. "Why do you have a shrunken down bear?"

"Mick and I freed him earlier," Charlie explained. "Soon as that witch was taken care of, I had Nora borrow her boyfriend's shrink ray and help me track him down."

"I'm sure Gideon can find somewhere safe for him," Nora said. "And safer for everyone else too. A wild bear roaming the streets could get someone hurt."

"I say," Shakespeare said, staring uneasily at the bear in the jar, "you people are indeed the strangest I have ever met."

"Yup," Nate agreed. "Too bad you won't remember us."

Shakespeare blinked. "What?"

Rather than explain, Nate pulled out his flasher and wiped the playwright's memory. He turned to his teammates and said, "Constantine finished sweeping the place for signs of Tabitha and Sara's on her way back to the ship now. Let's head out before this guy comes to his senses." The Legends exited the theater just as Shakespeare was beginning to wonder why he was standing there alone.

* * *

Leonard sat up on a chair in the Waverider med bay. Ray had used some of Gideon's futuristic medical tech to help him feel normal again. He had also run a few tests, which he was now analyzing in the lab. Mick had stuck around for a while, but he had eventually wandered off to ask Gideon to fabricate a beer. Now alone, Leonard had considered simply leaving, but the effects of the attack hadn't completely worn off yet, so he was willing to sit still just a moment longer to recover.

He heard someone knock on the edge of the doorway and looked in the direction of the sound. Sara poked her head in. "Mind if I come in?"

Leonard's mouth curved up into a small smile. "Please do."

Sara walked toward him, stopping once she was close to him. She sat down on a stool beside him, which placed her eye level at about the same height at his. "Hey," she said. "You okay?"

"Better now."

She looked him over slowly, studying him for any signs of injury. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

He smirked. "If I knew I'd get this much attention, I'd get myself knocked out more often."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Stop. Just…stop."

"Okay, okay," he surrendered. He turned his face to look directly at her. "I'm fine, Sara. Really."

She relaxed a little. "Good." She leaned in a little bit closer to him. "For a minute there, I thought I'd lost you. Again."

"Can't get rid of me that easily, Canary. You know that." He leaned back in the chair so that he was looking up at her face. "I didn't survive the Oculus just to get taken out by some crazy lady with a…ow," he groaned as his back fell all the way back into the chair.

A worried look flashed across Sara's face. She reached out her hand and grabbed his shoulder. "Leonard?"

He took a deep breath before responding. "Like I said, I'm fine. I just…I need a few more minutes."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Sara relaxed her grip but kept her hand resting on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to freak out. It's just…you literally just came back. I'm not ready to lose you twice."

Leonard glanced sideways at her hand, then let his gaze return to her eyes. I'm not ready to lose you twice either, he thought. "You won't, Sara. I'm sticking around. Trust me."

She smiled fondly at him. "You'd better be." She looked away, thought for a moment, then looked back at him again. "Did you figure out what she did to you?"

"Nope." He closed his eyes, remembering what had happened. "I don't know what it was. I just know it wasn't fun, and if it'd lasted any longer, it might've ended worse." He opened his eyes and looked up at her again. "You know, I've been through some weird crap in Central City, but this magic stuff might be some of the weirdest crap I've ever seen."

"Eh," she said nonchalantly, "you'll get used to it."

The two of them sat in silence for a moment until Leonard asked, "So…what about you?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him quizzically. "Me?"

"I'm not the only one Tabitha went after."

"Leonard," she reminded him, "I thought I told you not to worry about me."

"Oh, come on, Sara," he drawled. "Do you really expect me to do as I'm told? _Me_ of all people?"

"I thought you said you respected me as your captain," she reminded him.

"I do. And I don't like it when people I respect get their heads screwed with by some magical, revenge-bent nutcase."

"Fair enough." She paused before answering his initial question, "I'm okay. The visions are gone. John even gave me a potion to get any traces of her magic out of my system, just in case."

"Good. That's…that's good." He shifted in the chair until he could sit up just a little bit straighter and look her in the eyes. "She shouldn't have done that to you. And she shouldn't have gotten away with it."

Sara's face grew serious as she understood. "Is that why you ran off and tried to fight her alone?"

Leonard glanced down, away from her gaze. "Well, I wouldn't say it was the _only_ reason."

"Hey," Sara said firmly, commanding his attention again. "Leonard, look at me." He obeyed. "That was a risky move, okay? You didn't know what Tabitha was capable of. You didn't know if we were going to back you up in time. Do not take that kind of risk for me. Got it?"

He stared directly into her eyes, completely calm and not even slightly backing down. "Only seemed fair," he drawled. "Just returning a favor."

"What do you mean?"

"You knew saving me could get you in trouble," he explained, not breaking eye contact. "You knew the timeline could be endangered. You made the call to do it anyway. Mona told me everything."

Sara was surprised that he knew this, but she didn't react beyond a brief hesitation. "I don't leave people behind, Leonard. There was no other call to make."

"Sure there wasn't," Leonard said. His voice and expression softened a little as he continued, "And if you hadn't taken that risk, Tabitha wouldn't have been there to hurt you, to tell you those…lies…about yourself, to make you say them…I couldn't let her get away with that. Not when she was only there because of what you did for me."

Sara's heart melted as she listened to him. This was the Leonard Snart she'd missed so much. The man who had never seen her as a killer or a monster, to the point that it was of the utmost importance to him that she didn't believe such things about herself either. She scooted her stool toward his side and moved her arm to his other shoulder, then leaned in to embrace him in a comforting side hug. It was the simplest, most innocent gesture of affection in the world, but to Leonard, it was everything. Sara turned her face to look up at him and smiled sweetly. "You don't need to do anything for me," she told him. "You don't have to make it up to me or pay me back. You were dead. Now you're alive. That's enough."

"Yeah?" he said quietly, his voice wavering with a hint of uncertainty.

"Yeah," she assured him, leaning in even closer against his side. She felt a small temptation – though it grew stronger by the second – to rest her head on his shoulder. Or let her free hand hold his, or maybe even pull herself around so she could hold him properly. As her mind drifted, she couldn't help thinking about how nice that would feel…how nice it had felt when they'd held each other close in this very room after pulling him out of the timeline, filled with the thrill of battle and reunion…how safe she'd felt in his arms while recovering from Tabitha's attack…how beautiful his voice had sounded as he whispered kind, reassuring words into her ear…how handsome he'd looked earlier in that black cloak, like something out of one of those swashbuckling hero movies her father used to watch…

_Ava_. The thought burst through her mind suddenly, shaking her out of her trance. _What about Ava? You're not ready to think like that yet. It's too soon. How can you really be over someone you were so serious about this quickly? It's impossible. You're not ready. You can't be ready._ She began to feel a strange feeling of guilt and quickly let go of Leonard, then stood up and walked a couple of steps away, just out of arms' reach.

He looked at her curiously, not expecting the sudden change. "What? Something wrong?"

"No! I mean, no," she said, trying not to sound too emotional. "I just…I was thinking about…Ava." She straightened her posture and stated matter-of-factly, "I mean, I decided what I'm going to do about Ava chasing us down."

He leaned forward slightly, intrigued. "And that is…?"

She took a breath, then answered, "First thing tomorrow morning, I'm going to go to the Time Bureau…and I'm going to tell her exactly what happened." She paused to give him a chance to argue, but no argument came. "It's what's best for everyone," she continued. "I'm going to tell the whole story of how we saved you. She might let it go once she knows, but if she still plans on there being consequences, I'll take full responsibility. Since we have the closest relationship, as messy as that relationship may be, I'm the one she's most likely to listen to and, hopefully, let off the hook. And, if she doesn't, then I'd rather her punish me than make things harder for you or the rest of the crew."

Leonard nodded thoughtfully. "Uh-huh. And if she's angry? Or thinks you're a criminal?"

Sara crossed her arms and grinned. "Who cares?"

Leonard smirked proudly. "There she is. Sara Lance the Fearless."

She turned her head away and laughed. "Yeah, she was never far away." She turned to leave.

"Sara?"

She stopped and turned her head back to look at Leonard. "What?"

"If she throws you in time jail, I'll break you out."

Sara laughed and turned around again. "Thanks," she said as she walked away. "Now get some rest. Captain's orders." Before he had a chance to reply, she left the room.

* * *

Charlie bounded into the kitchen, followed closely by Mona. Mick sat at the table drinking a beer. "Hey, mate," Charlie addressed him, catching his attention. "We just sent that bear off on his way. He's got a long, uncaged life ahead of him now."

Mick set down his beer bottle. "Cool," he grunted.

"You know what's even cooler?" Mona asked, grinning. "Shakespeare and I brainstormed a bunch of story ideas you can use in your next books."

Mick frowned. "I write my own stories."

"Come on, Mick," Charlie said, sliding into the chair next to him. "Even the best need inspiration sometimes."

"What do you know about writing?" he asked. "You're a…" He thought for a moment as he pieced the words together, "…a spleeny, full-gorged carrion!"

Mona raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Charlie burst into laughter. "That's a brilliant one, mate!" she exclaimed, punching him in the arm. "I told you Shakespearean insults were fun."

He smiled. "They're not bad…you dankish, folly-fallen strumpet."

"Not at all, you rascally, beef-witted pumpion," Charlie retorted with a mischievous grin.

"Poisonous, muddy-mottled slug."

"Impertinent, hedge-born haggard."

Mona interrupted their game, "Okay, guys, I think we've had enough insulting each other for one day."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Just having a bit of fun, Mona." She got up from her seat. "Whatever. I've got to go bother Zari anyway. See you around, you loathed, rough-hewn shrimp!" She disappeared into the corridor with a cackle.

Mona took over Charlie's former seat beside Mick. "So," she said, "Mick, I had a question for you."

"If it's about the Shakespeare stories," he said, "I don't need some guy who died in 1616 to write my books for me." He took a swig of his beer.

"Well," Mona replied slowly, "first of all, he's one of the most famous writers of all time. Second, I'm kind of impressed you know what year he died. But actually, I had a question about something else. Something a little more…personal."

Mick nearly choked on his beer. He set the bottle down. "I don't do personal, kid."

She narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Never?"

He muttered something inaudible under his breath. When he realized her eyes were still on him, he grumpily said, "Fine. What's the question? But if I don't like it, I won't answer."

"Fair enough." She lowered her voice slightly, then asked, "You've known Snart pretty much forever, right?"

Mick shrugged. "Sure. Since we were kids."

"So, would you say you know him super well?"

"Of course I do. He's my partner."

"And you were there on his first mission with the Legends, right?"

"Yeah. So what?"

Mona leaned in a little closer to Mick, trying to hold back her growing excitement. "I was just wondering…is there something going on between Snart and Captain Lance? Maybe something…_romantic_?"

Mick stared straight at her for several silent seconds. Gradually, his blank face broke into a smirk. "Finally!" he bellowed. "I was getting sick of being the only one who noticed."

"Yes!" Mona squealed gleefully. "I knew it! They were totally flirting with each other all day. Snart said they weren't, but I knew I wasn't imagining it!"

"Ha!" Mick laughed. "You're telling me he really said that?"

"Yeah."

He slammed his fist on the table, almost knocking over his beer. "That lying idiot's been into Sara from day one. Can't believe he's still denying it. Stupid, that's what he is."

"This is great!" Mona said, her mind racing. "We should help them get together! It's just what Captain Lance needs right now, and it would be so fun! And adorable! And…"

Mick held up his hand, signaling her to stop. "Whoa, whoa, whoa…hang on, kid. That's not how this goes."

Mona's shoulders slumped. "But…but Mick, what about the romance? It's just like in one of your books."

"No," Mick argued. "It's nothing like my books. It's real people."

"You didn't mind getting involved with Zari and Nate."

"Yeah but this isn't them. It's my partner and my captain. Big difference. Snart and I, we don't…get involved like that."

Mona crossed her arms. "You sure?"

Mick shook his head. "No touchy-feely. Not with us. Besides, I already tried to talk to him about it and he didn't want to. You can't force Snart to open up. If you try and he doesn't want to, he shuts you out. Understand?"

"I guess."

"Good." He reached for his bottle again.

"I also think you're scared of messing up your friendship with Snart because he's only been here for a short time and you haven't really gotten to enjoy having your best friend back in your life yet, which makes you worried that you're going to jeopardize your relationship with him if you create any unnecessary drama that causes him to pull away."

Mick froze, the beer bottle halfway to his lips. "What are you, a shrink?"

"Nope. Just an observer."

"Right." He rotated in his seat so that his whole body was facing Mona, then looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen, kid. Until Snart asks either of us to set him up with Sara, we're not going to. Got that?"

Mona smiled. "Are you saying you think he _will_ ask us?"

"I don't know. Just don't mess with him right now, okay? The guy's been dead for three years. Go easy on him."

Mona sighed and gave in. "Okay, Mick. I won't push it." Her eyes lit up suddenly. "But that doesn't mean _we_ can't talk about them, right?" she asked, gesturing between herself and Mick. "I mean, you did just say you were sick of being the only one."

Mick's perpetual scowl softened. "Are you kidding? He's my partner. I want to know everything that comes out of his stupid mouth. Starting with today." He sat back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. "Tell me everything. Especially if it would be embarrassing to Snart. Those are the best parts." Mona giggled and began telling him everything she'd noticed that day.

* * *

Sara made her way to the lab and found Ray sitting in front of one of many computer screens. "What's up, doc?" she greeted him as she strolled in.

He spun around in his chair to face her. "Oh, you know, just running those tests for Snart."

Sara leaned back against his desk and looked at the multiple papers, notebooks, and chemical model sketches covering it. "That's a lot of tests," she observed. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Snart's fine," Ray replied. "He needs to rest, but Gideon will have him back to normal in no time." He stood up from his chair and walked to another computer screen a few feet away, then pressed a few buttons and stood back, waiting patiently.

Sara folded her arms. "If he's fine, why so many tests?"

Ray hesitated to answer, but one serious look from his captain was enough to make him talk. "Well, you see," he began, "while I was analyzing Snart's cells for damage from Tabitha's magic, I came across some unexpected findings that I'm trying to make sense of. It could be nothing, of course. He's been through a lot between going from reality to the timeline and back. It's probably just a side effect. Nothing to worry about. Probably."

Sara arched an eyebrow. "Probably?" She walked toward him and stood at his side, joining him in staring up at the screen. She was no scientist, but the figures she saw seemed incredibly complex, even for what she was used to seeing in Ray's calculations. "Ray," she said, turning to face him, "tell me what's going on."

"Uh…well…I don't know," he admitted. He hit another button and the screen froze. He pointed up at the charts and numbers it exhibited. "These are Snart's vitals as of today. They're all within the normal range. But…Gideon?" The screen transitioned to another set of charts and numbers. "But this is what I found in his cells when I tested him for traces of Tabitha's magic. You see those particle levels?" Sara nodded. "That would only be caused by a massive amount of temporal energy. I assumed he'd absorbed some from the timeline when we pulled him out, but not nearly this much. Not to be overly dramatic, but with levels like these, Snart should not have survived being pulled out of the timeline."

Sara looked sharply at Ray. "But he did survive," she said bluntly. "He made it out and he's still very alive."

"I know. That's the weird part. This energy hasn't changed any of his vital stats, cellular functions, or ability to perform physical tasks. At least, as far as I can tell right now." He scratched his head. "It's a real mystery, Captain. I'm going to have to run more tests and get to the bottom of it."

"Good luck," Sara said. "You'll need it if you expect him to let you study him and poke him around."

Ray nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, I'll definitely need it. I was honestly surprised he let me run these tests, and they were pretty noninvasive."

Sara took a step closer to the screen, trying to make sense of the figures in front of her. "Do you think this might explain what happened today with Tabitha? She attacked us with temporal energy from the rift. Maybe the energy in his body was reacting to that."

He shrugged. "Maybe. It's too early to tell."

She spun around, facing Ray again. "Try to find out. If we know what happened, we can stop her from hurting him like that again." _And I won't almost lose him again either_, she silently added.

"Agreed." He offered her an encouraging smile. "But, hey, look on the bright side: we defeated Tabitha! I mean, sure, she could come back, but we destroyed the rift and her staff, so unless she finds something new, she's kind of powerless right now. I'm sure we'll be safe from her for a while."

* * *

Somewhere in 2019, a man carried a large box down the stairs into his basement. He set it down on the ground and unpacked several items, all of which looked very ancient. There were multiple thick, dusty books as well as a few scrolls, some jars with strange contents, and a round object wrapped in dark fabric. The man set aside the various text and jars and stared at the covered ball at the bottom of the box. He felt oddly drawn to it. He lifted it up and set it on top of a nearby table, then pulled off the covering to reveal a shiny, transparent, crystal ball.

He stared at it for several moments. Nothing happened at first, but as he lifted his hand to touch it, a shape began to materialize inside. Slowly, the shape of a person began to appear. A woman. An older woman.

"Well, it's about time you showed up," she said, her appearance becoming clearer by the second. "You have no idea how long I've been stuck in here. It's dreadful, deary. Truly dreadful."

The man watched her warily. "Are…are you…?"

"You knew Neron," she answered, cutting him off. "You owe him everything you have. And you also know me."

He nodded. "Yes, yes of course. But…why are you in there? And here?"

"Neron is dead," she replied, "and the ones responsible took my power. I had no choice but to trap myself in here to escape."

"I heard of his demise," the man said. "Those treacherous Legends tricked him."

"Yes, deary, and without him, you too are in danger of losing your power. You swore an oath to him exchanging a lifetime of servitude for all you've ever wanted." She looked around the room as best she could from inside her crystal ball. "You've collected quite a few magical artifacts in here. I'd guess you're relying on them to maintain your power. Well, you may have enough to last for a little while, but without him, it's only a matter of time before you lose everything. That is…unless you help me."

He took a step closer to the crystal ball. "What do you mean? What do you want from me?"

"Consider me heir to what Neron left behind," Tabitha explained. "Fulfill your oath of servitude to me in his place and I can show you a way to keep your power forever and restore mine."

The man knelt in front of the crystal ball and placed his hands carefully on either side of it. "I would, of course, but how? You are a powerful witch, but not even you could recreate the power of Neron."

"Not as things stand now, deary, but I've spent enough time in this crystal ball to think of a way for us to become the most powerful beings in the world. The timeline is in perfect condition to be reshaped. All I need is a partner and all of history can be ours. Will you join me?"

The man nodded eagerly. "Yes. I will do it. But…what exactly is the plan?"

Tabitha's mouth twisted into an evil grin. "Revenge!"


	24. A Missing Diary

**A/N: Thanks so much for all the nice feedback! I'm trying really hard to keep everyone in character so I'm glad you guys like it.**

* * *

Sara, John Constantine, and Charlie stared at each other as they stood in front of the entrance to the jump ship. "Um…guys?" Sara said, looking back and forth between her two teammates. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Charlie replied.

"I'm going to the Time Bureau, Charlie," Sara explained. "I told Zari to woman the ship while I'm gone. You two have a mission with her."

Constantine shook his head. "Not me, love. I've got my own mission today."

Sara crossed her arms and looked at him skeptically. "And what would that be, John?"

"In case you haven't noticed," he said, "we've got an evil witch on the loose. If she's still out there, she'll be hunting us down. I aim to hunt her first. Besides, you've already gotten me into a costume once this month. That's my limit and you know it."

Sara shook her head. "Nice try, John, but you're not going off on your own this time. If Tabitha is coming after us, the guy who dealt the final blow to Neron would be first on her hit list. I'm not sending you off to wander around alone." She turned to Charlie. "And as for you…let me guess: sneaking backstage at a David Bowie concert?"

Charlie scoffed. "What? No! What would ever make you think that?"

"The pink lightning bolt painted over half your face," Sara answered bluntly, "and the fact that this would be the fifth time you tried to steal the jump ship to do that."

Charlie shut her eyes and groaned, turning her head slightly to the side to make the lightning bolt less obvious. "Bollocks!"

Sara pointed one finger at each of them. "I'm going. You two are staying. Are we done?"

Constantine took a small step toward her. "Now, wait a moment, love. You say you're heading to the Time Bureau, eh? Well, my plan was to pay good old Heyworld a visit, so it seems we'd be going the same direction."

"Heyworld?" Charlie repeated, raising her eyebrows. "I thought that amusement park was abandoned. At least, it should've been."

Both Sara and Constantine opened their mouths to speak, but Sara gave her answer first. "It was," she said. "Kind of. The amusement park was shut down and all the creatures were set free. However, since there were so many magical creatures with nowhere to go, the Time Bureau turned it into a safe haven where they can all live if they choose to. It's completely voluntary, and, because of the Time Bureau's history with Hank Heywood, a lot of creatures moved out. Still, a good number ended up sticking around."

"And no one's more in tune with magical activity," John added, "than creatures who are regularly a part of it. If Tabitha's alive, someone at Heyworld will have heard about it. So, love, here's what I propose: we hop on the jump ship, you go the Bureau, and then I head over to Heyworld."

"Now hold on a minute," Charlie interrupted before Sara could respond. "Do you think a community of magical creatures are going to help John Constantine without hesitating? Do you know how many of them were only trapped because of you in the first place? No offense, mate. You know I don't hold any bad feelings for you. But I wouldn't be shocked if they did."

"I also saved them in the end," Constantine argued. "I think they'll remember that."

"Charlie's right," Sara agreed. "If you go to Heyworld alone, you might not get answers. But…" she looked at Charlie, "…you can go with a couple of friends, including one who's a magical creature herself who can vouch for you."

Charlie held up her hands. "Hey, now, let's not get…"

"Too late," Sara cut her off. "I've made up my mind. You two are coming with me to the Bureau. After that, all three of us will go to Heyworld."

Charlie began to protest, "But what about…"

"No Bowie this time, Charlie," Sara told her.

"Aw," she groaned. "Fine." Her body glowed red as her shape changed to erase the pink lightning bolt from her face. "Let's get this over with, then."

"I still think I can handle it alone, love," John argued.

Sara walked in front of him to physically block the entrance to the jump ship. "We've talked about your loner tendencies, John," she said. "You're on a team now. Teammates do things together. You're either going with us, or you're not going. Take your pick."

John mulled it over for a moment, then sighed in surrender. "All right, love, you win."

Sara smirked. "I always do." She opened the door and waved at them to follow her into the jump ship. "All aboard for the Time Bureau and Heyworld!" They soon joined her, and the jump ship took off in the direction of present-day Washington, DC.

* * *

Zari entered the Waverider kitchen to see Nate preparing his breakfast and Snart sitting at the table with his feet propped up against it and his head buried in a book. After stepping closer, she recognized the title as _Around the World in Eighty Days_. "Didn't take you for a classic literature guy," she commented. When Snart didn't respond, she grabbed a donut and announced, "Okay, Legends, listen up! Sara's on mission at the Time Bureau and gave me instructions to try to shut down at least one rift while she's gone."

"Wait, Sara's at the Time Bureau?" Nate repeated as he took a seat at the opposite end of the table from Snart. "Why?"

"Because," Zari answered as she chewed, "Ava thinks some time criminals are responsible for the rifts and Sara needs to explain that it was actually just us rescuing this guy." She pointed at Snart, who made no motion to acknowledge the gesture and remained hidden behind his book.

Nate sucked in his breath. "Ooh, that's going to be awkward. Is she going by herself?"

Zari sat down in the chair next to her boyfriend. "No. She sent me a message before she left. Apparently, she took John and Charlie with her." She took another bite out of her donut and muttered, "Because that's not a chaotic combination of people at all."

Mona, Nora, and Ray entered the room as she spoke. "Nora," Ray told his girlfriend sweetly, "seriously, you need to stop letting it bother you. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know I didn't," Nora replied as she poured a cup of coffee for each of them. "But I still could've done a better job. Maybe if I'd anticipated it better, this wouldn't be a problem."

Nate looked to Mona for an answer. "What are they talking about?"

"Tabitha," Mona replied.

"I tried to get a jump on any threats headed our direction," Nora explained, "but I wasn't ready for Tabitha and she got away."

"Babe, she's basically powerless now," Ray reminded her. "You did that."

"Powerless Tabitha is still dangerous," Nora insisted. "I get that you're trying to make me feel better about all this, but I'm not going to until we know where and when she is."

Ray sighed, knowing he couldn't change her mind in that moment. He nodded to Leonard. "Hey, Snart, remember what I said about boots on the table?"

"No," Leonard said, still keeping his face fully hidden behind the book.

Ray rolled his eyes, then took a step closer to Leonard, observing him curiously. "Oh, I remember that book," he said, recognizing it. "I read it when I was a kid. It sure is a fun read, isn't it?"

Snart said nothing, nor did he give any hint of a reaction. He simply remained silent behind his book.

Zari looked around the table as the remaining Legends each grabbed seats. "It looks like the only one not here is Mick," she said. "He never shows up for team meetings anyway, so I guess we can start talking about what kind of mission we're doing today."

"Do we get a choice?" Nate asked, surprised.

"Kind of," Zari replied. "Sara said to choose one that's not too risky if possible, but there are tons of rifts out there that could fit that description. So, any time periods we want to check out? Personally, I always prefer missions recent enough that I can wear pants, but I'm open to suggestions."

Before anyone could answer, Mick burst into the room with a furious look on his face. "Where is it?" he demanded.

"Where's what, Mick?" Mona asked concernedly.

"Yeah," Nate said, watching him warily. "Are you okay, man?"

Mick stomped across the kitchen. His eyes locked on the book in Leonard's hands. He grabbed it by the spine and pulled it away.

"Mick!" Leonard shouted, jumping to his feet. His concentration was finally broken, and he clearly was not happy about it.

Mick closed the book and read the title. "Wrong book," he grumbled, dropping it back on the table in front of Leonard.

Leonard picked up the book protectively and stared coldly at his partner. "Would you mind telling me exactly what your problem is?" he seethed.

Mick took a step back away from Leonard. "I can't find Garima," he said. "The book's gone."

The other Legends exchanged understanding glances. Leonard remained completely in the dark. "You can't find…what?" he asked, visibly confused.

"Garima," Mick repeated.

"What's a Garima?"

"My girlfriend!"

Leonard blinked a few times, then took a step backward as he paused to think about it. "Your…girlfriend. You…have a girlfriend."

"What?" Mick reacted defensively. "Didn't think I could?"

"No," Leonard replied, "just…" he glanced down at the book in his arms, "…why the book?"

Mick, now slightly calmer, answered, "Because she lives in one. It's a magic book. I write in it and she shows up."

Leonard's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of things. "Let me get this straight," he said after a beat. "You have a girlfriend – who you have never told me about – who lives…in a _book_?"

Mick nodded. "Her name is Garima."

Ray decided to offer an explanation. "Well," he said, "to clarify, 'lives' is probably too strong of a word. There's a magic book called Brigid's Diary that Mick writes in sometimes. Anything he writes in it comes true. Garima is a character from his romance novels. Whenever he writes about her in the magic book, she comes to life and is, basically speaking, his girlfriend."

Leonard looked from Ray to Mick, then sat back down in his chair. "You lost me at 'magic book', Raymond." He turned to face Mick again. "And I've got a whole lot of questions for you now, partner."

"If one of them is how many boobs she has," Mick said, "the answer is three."

"That definitely was not one of my questions."

Mona waved at Mick to get his attention. "Maybe we can help you look for it," she suggested. "The book, I mean. It has to be around here somewhere."

"I already looked everywhere," Mick argued. "Even checked all the books in the library. It's gone."

Zari's eyes widened as a realization dawned on her. "Wait a minute. Mick, when was the last time you used Brigid's Diary?"

"I don't know what day it was," Mick said.

"Well," she asked patiently, "was it before or after we saved Snart?"

Mick thought silently while the rest of the Legends watched him. "Before," he finally answered. "It was before."

Ray gasped. "Mick, I think Brigid's Diary is an anachronism!"

"He's right," Nora agreed as she pieced together the same conclusion. "You haven't seen it since the rifts were created. We weren't in the temporal zone when we pulled Snart out of the timeline, so that means that it could've been sent from 2019 Central City to somewhere else in history."

Mick placed his hands on the table and leaned forward toward Zari. "We have to find Garima," he growled. "The boss put you in charge. Are you going to look for her or not?"

Zari looked Mick straight in the eyes as if accepting a challenge. "I guess we have our mission decided then, don't we?" She turned away and asked loudly, "Hey, Gideon? Seen any signs of a misplaced magic book in the timeline?"

"I have located one aberration matching that description," Gideon's voice answered. "It is located in Washington, DC in the year 1950."

Zari stood up and looked around the table. "You heard her, Legends. Looks like we're headed to the fifties."


	25. Coming Clean

Ava stared wide-eyed at Sara, John, and Charlie, then sank down into the chair behind her desk. "Let me get this straight," she said slowly as she processed her thoughts. "Tabitha got pulled out of the timeline just before her death, attacked the Legends in 1606, can harness the energy of the rifts for power, and is now running loose somewhere in history."

Charlie nodded. "That about sums it up."

Ava sighed. "Well, I guess it could be worse."

"It could be," John added, "and you've got Nora to thank for the fact that it isn't."

Sara pulled out a plastic bag filled with the splintered remains of Tabitha's broken staff and placed it on Ava's desk. "Nora broke her staff," she explained. "Without it, she'll have a hard time harnessing the rifts' power."

Ava picked up the bag gingerly and examined its contents. "That's good news. I'll have Gary stash this in the Time Bureau vault. We wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands." She looked back up at Sara. "I trust Ray relayed my message to you. Tabitha couldn't have been one of the ones to alter the timeline because she was dead until it got damaged, but maybe someone else did it because they wanted to save her. Did you pick up on any clues as to who might have done this?"

Sara shifted her weight nervously. She glanced at John, then Charlie, then back at Ava. "I…uh…we need to talk about that, Director Sharpe."

Ava sat up straighter. "Yes? What about it?"

Sara inched forward toward Ava's desk. "It wasn't what you think," she said. "There were no criminals trying to wreck time by pulling it apart."

Ava eyed Sara curiously. "How do you know? Did you find something out?"

"Not exactly," Sara replied. She paused for a moment, then forced herself to take the plunge. "I know because…I did it."

An uncomfortable silence fell suddenly on the room. Ava's jaw dropped, but she closed it quickly. She rose from her chair and walked silently around the corner of her desk until she stood directly in front of Sara. She crossed her arms and looked at her with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. "Explain," she said sternly.

"I messed with the timeline," Sara reiterated, "and I created the rifts."

"For the record," Charlie piped up from the back of the room, "it wasn't all her. We all did it. Technically, it wasn't even her idea."

"Yeah," Constantine agreed. "Really, it all started when our resident shapeshifter got drunk in Tibet."

"Oi!" Charlie exclaimed, slapping his arm. "No need to get that specific."

"The team did work together to do what we did," Sara admitted, "but I made the final decision to go through with it, so if you're going to blame anyone, it should be me. But I didn't know that the rifts would be created, and it was definitely for a good reason, so if you would just let me explain, I'm sure you'd understand."

Ava looked down at the ground for a moment, then addressed John and Charlie. "Will you two please take the remains of Tabitha's staff to Gary's desk?" she asked. "I'd like to speak with Captain Lance alone."

Charlie hesitated and said to Sara, "Are you sure you don't…"

Sara continued to face Ava. "Take the staff, Charlie. You and John can go ahead to Heyworld when you're done delivering it to Gary."

Charlie and John shared uneasy glances, then obediently took the bag containing the staff's pieces and exited the office. Ava leaned back against her desk, her eyes still fixed on Sara. "You altered the fabric of time itself," she stated. "Why?"

"Just let me explain."

"That's what I'm doing now."

Sara took a step backward, hoping the space between her and Ava would alleviate some of the tension. "Did Rip ever tell you about the original team?" she asked. Ava nodded silently. "On our mission against Vandal Savage, we lost someone. For years, I believed he was dead. We all did. But, a little while ago, we found out that he wasn't…technically."

Ava arched an eyebrow quizzically. "Technically?"

"He was stuck in the timeline," Sara explained. "We found a way to pull him out. I knew there was a risk, but I didn't know that the rifts would happen. I just…I don't leave people behind. You know that."

Ava's posture relaxed a little, but she still seemed very concerned. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "The Time Bureau's job – my job – is to protect the timeline. You altered time itself. Didn't you think I'd want to know, just so the Bureau could be prepared?"

"Well," Sara answered calmly, "I wasn't really thinking about that. It was all kind of a rush…"

"You could have just sent me a text, Captain Lance. Or anyone else at the Bureau if you didn't want to talk to me."

"It wasn't personal," Sara immediately said. _Except that I didn't want you to think I'm a screw up_, she mentally added, though she didn't dare say so out loud.

"Well, that's good to know," Ava muttered. She spoke again at her normal volume, "I understand that you wanted to save your teammate. Really, I do. You've always put your teammates' needs first. That's why, if you had just let me know, I wouldn't have gotten in the way. I might've even helped you find a safer way to do it. But now…" She sighed. "…now, the Bureau's in chaos and the timeline's never been in worse shape. Plus, apparently, we've got Tabitha back from the dead. Do you see why we could've used a warning?"

"Now I do," Sara conceded, "but that wasn't really the priority in the moment."

"Then you could've told me right after," Ava said, her voice gradually becoming more emotional although she tried to resist it. "You could've reported that something may have been displaced from the timeline. At least then we wouldn't have had to waste time and resources looking for the culprit. How could you not at least think about that?"

Sara clenched her fists. "How could I not think about the Time Bureau?" she asked, the emotion in her own voice rising well above the level of Ava's. "I'd literally just found out that my friend – one of the best friends I've ever had, by the way – was alive after three years of believing he was dead. And then, I saw a way to maybe, just maybe, bring him back to reality where he belongs. So, no, I didn't think about the Time Bureau. I didn't think about the potential consequences to the timeline. I didn't think about anything other than saving him because, how could I? How could I think of anything besides him in that moment?"

Ava dropped her arms to her sides, surprised at Sara's sudden outburst. "Captain Lance," she said gently, "please calm down. I'm just trying to understand. This is a lot for me to process."

Sara closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again. "I know. I know it's a lot. If you want to arrest me for screwing with time, go right ahead, but I'm not sorry about saving my friend's life and I don't regret taking that risk to do it."

Ava shook her head. "Captain Lance, I'm not going to arrest you."

Sara let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Director Sharpe."

"You did what you had to do for your friend," Ava continued. "I'd have to be a pretty terrible person to be angry about that. I just…I just wish it had happened differently. I wish you would have told me." She looked away wistfully. "We used to talk about everything. And now you won't tell me anything, not even something this important. It's hard."

Sara was surprised at this sudden display of vulnerability. "Yeah," she agreed. "It is hard. Harder than I thought."

"Same here." Ava looked down at the floor again for a moment, then straightened up and addressed Sara again, this time with a slightly friendlier, though still professional, tone. "I'll call off the investigation," she said. "You and the rest of the Legends are off the hook. That being said, this is a very unexpected development for the Time Bureau. There are going to be a lot of implications to work through. Can I count on you cooperating from here on out?"

Sara's expression softened into a small smile. This was the first time Ava had talked to her with such an amicable tone since their breakup. It felt good. "Yes," she said, trying not to sound too eager. "Yes, you can. You absolutely can."

"Good." Ava took a step away from her desk in the direction of the door. "In that case, I'm about to hit my lunch break. Since we need to talk anyway, would you mind joining me?"

Sara stiffened. "Joining you…for lunch?"

"As colleagues," Ava immediately clarified. "I need to know what you know, and I have a feeling you want to know what I know. Strictly professional." She paused, then added uneasily, "Of course, if you're uncomfortable…"

"No," Sara interrupted. "Not at all. I'd…I'd like that."

"Excellent." Ava led Sara out of her office and through the Time Bureau toward the exit.

* * *

"Okay," Zari said, running through her mental checklist as she stood in the Waverider's bridge, "we've reached 1950. Gideon's given us a radius of where to expect the anachronism and rift to be. It's not that large of an area. I think we should leave someone on the ship in case something goes wrong."

"Didn't help last time," Mick pointed out.

"Actually," Ray countered, "I think that part worked out pretty well. We just weren't expecting, you know, Tabitha."

"Whatever," Zari said, dismissing their comments. "Since it's such a small radius, we should keep the temporal energy gun with us. Also, Ray's been stuck on the ship for two missions in a row. Someone else should stay this time."

Nora raised her hand. "I'll stay."

Ray turned to look at her. "Babe, you love going on missions."

"So do you," she replied. "You still stayed for the last two. If I stay on the ship, I can do research and try to find Tabitha before she finds us."

"Isn't Constantine already doing that?" Nate asked.

"Doesn't mean other people can't help," Nora countered. "Besides, I let her get away last time. It's my responsibility."

Ray shook his head. "It really isn't. Honestly, if anyone should stay, it's Snart."

Leonard looked at him sharply from where he had been silently standing against the wall. "What?"

"You got injured last mission," Ray explained. "I told you I still don't know exactly what happened to you and I won't know until we do more tests. It might not be safe for you to go out into the field yet."

Leonard held up one finger. "First of all," he said, "like I already said, I'm not your lab rat." He added a second finger. "Second, this mission is about my partner. That means you're not kicking me off."

"But…" Ray started to protest.

Nora placed her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "It's okay, Ray," she said. "I really don't mind staying."

"Then it's settled," Zari said decisively. "Nora's staying. The rest of us are going." She tapped a button on the central console. A three-dimension projection appeared showing a geographic area that included Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and several other surrounding buildings. "This is the radius Gideon calculated," Zari explained.

"Cool!" Nate exclaimed as he looked at the famous landmarks in front of him. Then, he corrected himself, "I mean, not cool, if something went wrong. That's a super important area. It contains two out of three branches of the federal government."

"Do we really need a civics lesson now?" Snart asked, rolling his eyes.

"Listen," Nate argued, "this is a big deal. An aberration at any of these sites in 1950 could significantly alter a lot of recent history."

"Nate's right," Ray said. "Do we know which building the anachronism is most likely in?"

"I do!" Mona exclaimed eagerly. All eyes focused on her. "Um…I mean, I have a guess." She pointed at the Library of Congress on the projection. "We're looking for a missing book, right? What better place to hide a book than in the biggest library in the world?"

Mick leaned over to look more closely at the projection. "You think Garima's in there, kid?"

"I think Brigid's Diary is in there," Mona clarified. "Just think about how easy it would be for someone to accidentally shelve it with all the other books. At least, that's my theory."

Zari looked up at the ceiling. "Gideon? Are we on the right track?"

"Miss Wu is correct," Gideon answered. "All records indicate one more book in the Library of Congress's 1950 collection than there ought to be, with no record of how it was acquired."

"Sounds like Brigid's Diary found its way in," Zari summarized. "All right, team. I guess we've got our work cut out for us." She took a step back as if to leave, but she stopped when she noticed everyone except Snart staring at her. "What?"

"Sorry," Nate said, "we're just used to Sara doing the thing."

"What thing?" Zari asked.

"You know what I'm talking about, Z." He imitated Sara's usual stance. "Grab your library cards, Legends, because we are going to…" He moved his fingers behind his ears as if stroking his hair, then turned them into finger guns pointed at Zari. "…check out a book."

Zari rolled her eyes. "Nate, I love you, but that was a little weird."

"That's just because it's Sara's thing," Nate said. "It's less weird when she does it."

"Pretty sure Sara would've come up with something better than that," Snart commented. The other Legends turned to look at him, surprised at his contribution. "What? Can't a guy have an opinion?"

Mona and Mick exchanged knowing glances. Mick turned away before anyone else could notice. Mona smirked mischievously, then did the same.

Zari clapped her hands loudly to get everyone's attention. "Hey! Guys! We have a mission here. Are we going to find the diary or what?"

"I want Garima back," Mick said.

"That's what I thought," Zari said. "Fabrication room in five. Let's do this."


	26. Needle in a Haystack

Zari, Nate, Ray, Mona, Leonard, and Mick stood on the sidewalk between the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. The Capitol loomed large across the street. All six of them were dressed appropriately and inconspicuously for 1950. Zari kept her totem on her wrist while Leonard and Mick concealed their weapons under their coats. They watched the crowds pass them in all directions, a mix of obvious tourists and people in dark suits walking from one government office building to another.

"Man," Ray said, taking in the famous landmarks around him, "I know we're in DC a lot because of the Time Bureau, but it's been a while since I was last back here. The Supreme Court, the Capitol, the Library of Congress…wow. So many iconic institutions in one place. It never gets old, does it?"

"Glad the Boy Scout's having fun," Snart said. "As for the rest of us, what's the plan to find Mick's book?"

Zari pointed at the library in front of them. "It should be open to the public right now. Once we get inside, the real question will be how to find one book among millions."

"Like looking for a needle in a haystack," Nate said, nodding in agreement.

"It's got to be organized, right?" Mona asked. "Maybe Brigid's Diary is shelved by author. You know, under 'B' for Brigid."

"It doesn't have her name on it," Mick replied. "How would they know where to put it?"

"They're expert librarians," Mona argued. "If anyone knows how to organize books, it's them."

"Well, we won't find it just standing around outside," Zari said. "Let's go in and check it out."

They made their way toward the tall, white building and entered through the visitors' entrance. Although they passed security guards, they were able to slip past them without drawing attention to themselves. "Thieving sure would've been easier in 1950," Mick commented once the guards were out of earshot.

Ray looked horrified. "Mick, you wouldn't rob a library, would you? That's pretty messed up."

Mick laughed. "Ha! Steal something that's already free? That's dumb. Who would do that?"

"Not really the point," Ray replied, "but I guess that's reassuring."

"Relax, Raymond," Leonard said. "We're here on a rescue mission. The only thing we're interested in taking out of here is that diary. For now." He turned to Mick. "Speaking of which, you've still got a lot of explaining to do."

"What's to explain?" Mick asked. "My alien girlfriend comes to life when I write stories about her in a magic book. It's not that complicated."

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "She's an alien now?" Mick looked away and ignored the question.

Ray stepped ahead of the team and gasped. "Guys, look!" he said, keeping his voice quiet out of respect for the library. He pointed at various statues, famous quotes, and ornate structures around him. "Isn't this so cool?" He spotted the entrance to the largest room and caught a glimpse of the inside. "Gosh, that looks amazing. Let's go in." He ran ahead and tried to walk in, but was immediately blocked by a security guard.

"Sir," the guard said, "this room is for researchers with valid Library of Congress cards only."

Ray's face sank. "Oh." He fumbled with his pockets, knowing very well that he didn't have one. "I…um…I may have misplaced it. Are you sure you can't…"

"Well, this is painful to watch," Zari commented. "Ray couldn't tell a convincing lie to save his life."

"You got that right," Leonard agreed. He smirked as he pulled a clearly marked Library of Congress card out of his coat pocket. "Good thing we're not all like that goody-two-shoes."

Nate stared at him in shock. "When did you even have time to steal that? We've literally been together this whole time."

"Don't underestimate me, Nathaniel." Leonard stepped forward and calmly approached the security guard in front of Ray. "He's with me," he said. "We've got some very important research to do, so how about you let us in?"

The guard looked up front the card suspiciously. "Are you sure that's you?"

"It's an old picture," Leonard answered without a hint of hesitation.

The guard gave it another look then said, "You can go in, but he needs an ID first. If you want to sign up for one, you've got to go to the desk."

Leonard opened his mouth to make up an excuse, but Zari took action first. She ran across the hallway and caught the guard's attention. "Sir!" she exclaimed, though she kept her voice at library levels. "Thank goodness I found you! I was just in one of the special collections upstairs and I think I saw someone trying to steal a rare manuscript. I tried to find someone closer, but it seems all the other guards were gone."

"Did he leave the building?" the guard asked.

"I don't think so, but you must go up and check! I'd go with you, but I've already run so far, and these heels are just slowing me down..."

"All right, miss, all right," the guard said. "I'll have a look around. As for you two..." He turned to where Snart and Ray had been standing, but saw that they were gone. "Huh?" He spun around to face Zari again and found that she was also gone. "What the..."

Zari, Nate, Ray, Mona, Snart, and Mick stood silently against the wall inside the room they had just snuck into. When the guard poked his head in to look for them, they darted behind the nearest row of bookshelves, fully hiding themselves from view. Once the guard returned to his position, Snart smirked at Zari, impressed. "Not bad," he whispered.

Mick looked up and around at all the books they were standing in the middle of. "How do we find Garima in here?"

The Legends stopped walking and stared at the countless, tall shelves of books expanding all across the room. Ray let out a low whistle. Zari finally spoke first, "I would say to just start looking, but it'll take a really long time if we go in blind. It's not like an ancient diary has a call number."

Nate snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. "Not unless they gave it one when they got it," he said. "If we can get into whatever room they keep records in, we might be able to find what number they assigned it from their descriptions."

"Genius!" Ray whispered, giving his best friend a very quiet high-five.

Mick waved his hand at the millions of books surrounding them. "You see all these?" he asked. "We don't know what name they gave it. You can't go through all these records. It would take years."

"And this isn't even the whole collection," Leonard added.

"It wouldn't take years," Mona argued.

"You just have to be patient, Mick," Ray said.

"But what about Garima?" Mick countered, scowling at Ray. " I'm not leaving her stuck in here forever."

"Is she even conscious right now, though?" Nate asked. "She really only exists when you write stuff about her."

"You take that back, Pretty."

Zari stepped in between them. "Guys, you're fighting in a library," she reminded them. "The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves." She took a deep breath, then let it out. "This is why I don't envy Sara's job." She turned to Ray and Nate. "You two, go out through a different exit and find the records room. Try to at least narrow down which section the book could be in. Call us on comms if you find anything." She turned to Mick, Leonard, and Mona. "We'll get a head start on checking the stacks. Is that cool with everyone?"

"Still too many books to go through," Mick grumbled.

"Not a problem I can fix, man," Zari said.

Nate nodded. "I'm cool with that. Come on, bro, let's find the records." He and Ray turned and walked briskly away to find another exit.

Zari waved the remaining Legends closer together to make an only slightly conspicuous huddle. "We should split up," she said. "We'll cover more ground that way."

"Agreed," said Mona. "Where should we look?"

"The Library of Congress classification system is pretty precise," Zari replied, "but a book of unknown origin with a lot of unusual content like Brigid's Diary isn't necessarily easy to categorize. There are a few sections I think it could fall into." She dug into her purse and pulled out a notepad and pencil, then wrote down several ranges of letters and numbers. She tore the paper in half and handed one to Mick. "You check around those areas. I'll check these." She turned her head to look over the vast room's shelves full of books. Even with her narrowed down list, this would be a daunting task. "Hopefully, Nate and Ray can find something helpful before we spend too much time in here. We've still got a rift to find, too."

Mick read through the list. "Not until we find Garima." He turned around and started walking in the direction of the first range on the list. "Come on, Snart. Follow me."

Leonard did a double take. He looked over at his partner strangely. He couldn't remember the last time Mick had been the one to give the orders in their partnership. Not that he had any objection to following Mick in this situation, but it took him by surprise. "Did you just…tell me to…"

Mick froze, realizing what Snart was reacting to. "Yeah. I mean…you're coming, right?"

Leonard shrugged it off. "Sure." He followed Mick away to a shelf on the other side of the room to investigate their first option. Zari and Mona checked their list, then walked in the opposite direction to do the same.

* * *

"Ah," John Constantine said, looking up at the large sign in front of him and Charlie, "Heyworld."

Charlie frowned. "Doesn't look that magical to me, mate. All I'm seeing is a fence."

"And on the other side of that fence," John told her, "you'll see a whole lot more. Remember, the magical creatures living here wanted to stay somewhere out of the public eye. They're not exactly trying to get outsiders to notice them." He pressed a button on the gate and a buzzer sounded. "John Constantine," he said to the speaker above the button. "I'm here on important business."

"John Constantine?" a high-pitched voice repeated back to him. "Do you mean, John Constantine, Master of the Dark Arts?"

"I'm not aware of any others," he answered.

Charlie leaned over so she was in front of the speaker. "And he's got a friend with him. Charlie here, immortal shapeshifter of the Legends."

"Oh, yes!" the high-pitched voice replied much more enthusiastically. "I do remember you, Charlie. We were in Mallus's prison together for a time. You transformed into my shape once to make it look like I was still in place while I tried to escape."

Charlie's face lit up as she recognized the voice she was speaking to. "Penny the pixie? Is that you? My, it's been ages. Literally."

"Hi, Charlie!" Penny said, a smile apparent in her voice. "It's lovely to see you again. How are the Legends?"

"Brilliant. Well, mostly. That's why we're here. Mind if I come in?"

"Oh, of course! Welcome!" The speaker went silent for a moment, then added, "And John Constantine can come in as well."

Charlie chuckled and looked back at John as the gate slowly opened before them. "I guess Sara was right," she said smugly. "You do need a friend with you."

"No need to rub it in, love," John muttered.

The two of them stepped inside the gate. As John had promised, they saw a lot more inside. It looked every bit as whimsical as a neighborhood of magical creatures could be expected to be. Buildings of all different shapes, sizes, colors, and cultures lined the streets. There were numerous flying beings flitting through the air, and an even larger variety of creatures could be seen on the ground level below them whether on the sidewalk, through the buildings' windows, or driving on the street in vehicles from at least a few different time periods.

Charlie smiled as she took it in. "It's absolutely bonkers in here. A bloody nonsensical mess." She turned to John and exclaimed gleefully, "I love it!"

John shrugged. "Eh. Could do with a bit better planning. Now, let's see…" He adjusted his tie, rolled up the sleeves of his trench coat, then declared, "I've got a contact on Fifth Street. Want to start there?"

"By all means," Charlie said, still looking around at the strange and wild sights around her. "Lead the way."

* * *

Sara and Ava strolled along the side of the National Mall. There were a few tourists around, but it was mostly calm. They'd walked this area many times before when they were dating. Sara tried to remain in the moment and avoid letting those memories take too much of her attention. "So," she asked Ava, "what do you need to know?"

"Frankly, everything," Ava answered. "The more I know about what happened to the timeline, the easier it may be to fix it."

"I told you what happened," Sara said. "Snart was stuck in the timeline and we had to work together to pull him out. It took a lot of different steps. There were speedsters involved, magic, technology, medical tests…"

"Snart?" Ava repeated, latching onto the name Sara had said. "That's his name? Your lost teammate, I mean."

"Yeah," Sara said. "Leonard Snart."

"Oh, okay," Ava said as she put the pieces together. "This is Leo's doppelganger, then."

"We tend to think of Leo as the doppelganger, but yes."

"Tell me about him."

Sara hesitated. It felt weird to talk about Leonard with Ava. "What do you mean? What about him?"

"Anything. He was embedded in time, then suddenly pulled back into living in the timeline again. Now, apparently, he's on the Waverider. It's my business as someone tasked with protecting time to know who he is and what to expect from him."

"Oh. Yeah, of course. That makes sense." She paused as they crossed a street, then began to speak again. "Rip recruited Snart back on our first mission. He was a friend of Rory's. They were recruited together, actually." The more she told Ava about Leonard, the easier it became, although she still felt a little strange about it. "He's pretty different from Leo. He was always kind of the team rebel. Or, at least, he tried to be. Deep down, he really did care about all his teammates. He didn't like getting close to people other than me and Mick, but he still had everyone's back when they needed him."

"Why didn't he mind getting close to you?" Ava interrupted. "Not that it's a problem, but why the exception?"

Sara looked at Ava's face and tried to read her expression, hoping to determine whether this question was asked out of suspicion or genuine curiosity. Not succeeding, she answered, "Well, I'm not sure exactly what made him first decide to talk to me, but we became friends pretty quickly. He's just…he's a great guy. Some people think he's so cold-hearted, but he really isn't once you get to know him." She smiled involuntarily as she recounted their friendship. "We used to play cards together whenever we had downtime on the ship. And we watched TV together. And we would talk to each other about literally anything. And we worked together super well on missions. He has this really sarcastic sense of humor and was always trying to make me laugh. I think he had about a fifty percent success rate." She chuckled a little just thinking about it. "Of course, if you asked him, he'd say it was higher."

Ava glanced sideways at Sara, then returned her gaze to the sidewalk ahead of them. "You guys were pretty close, then," she said, her voice a bit quieter than when the conversation had started.

"Well, yeah," Sara replied. "Like I said, he's one of the best friends I've ever had. He just…got me, you know?" She lowered her voice slightly as her tone became more serious. "I was struggling with a lot of stuff back then. It was my first year back to life. I still had major bloodlust issues. I didn't want to be an assassin anymore, but I also didn't really know what else to do with myself. Snart listened to me and he really believed I could be better, even when I didn't believe it myself."

"Hm." Ava continued to look straight ahead as she thought about what Sara was saying. "If he's so important to you, why didn't you talk to me about him before?"

Sara didn't answer right away. "I…um…I didn't talk about him much to anybody after he…after we thought he died." She hesitated, then continued, "When I…we lost him, I was the last one to see him. Someone had to stay at the Oculus to blow it up and it was going to be Mick, but Snart wouldn't let him. He knocked him out and took his place. I was there too, so he told me to get Mick back to the ship." She stopped walking and turned to look directly at Ava, who did the same. "I didn't have a choice, but that didn't mean I felt good about it. Snart has a code, and part of that code is never leaving anyone behind. Then, I had to do exactly that to him. I didn't want to talk about it with you or anyone else because it hurt so much."

Ava looked at her understandingly. "That's where your rule came from, isn't it?"

Sara nodded somberly. "I left one person I cared about behind. I decided never to do it again if I could help it." She began to walk again. Ava joined her. "Of course, it's much easier now that he's alive. We had a whole talk about it when he first got back."

Ava still felt like Sara wasn't telling her everything. _She said she used to talk to Snart about literally anything_, she thought. _We used to talk about literally anything, too. Why didn't we talk about this? Did Snart know her better than me? No, that's impossible. They knew each other for what? A few months? That couldn't be it. Right?_ "I still don't see why you never mentioned him," she said. "We talked about complicated stuff all the time. Why was this different?"

"I don't know. It…it just was, okay?" Sara realized how defensive she sounded and immediately backtracked. "I mean, I wasn't trying to hide anything from you. You weren't there. You didn't know him. It would've taken a lot of explaining. I didn't think you'd understand…"

"Understand?" Ava repeated with surprise. "Why would you think I wouldn't understand?"

"Because…he's just not like you. At all."

"How so?"

"He hates following other people's rules, for starters. He never got along with Rip. Plus, I know it took you a long time to warm up to Mick. I didn't think it would be any easier with another…"

Ava shot Sara a sharp look. "Another what? Please don't tell me you've got _two_ thieves on the Waverider now. It's hard enough keeping history safe from one."

Sara smirked back at her mischievously. "Maybe."

Ava sighed and shook her head. "Yet another issue I now need to deal with, because this situation wasn't messy enough. Why can't the Legends recruit someone normal for once?"

Sara laughed. "We'd hardly be the Legends if we did, Director Sharpe."

"Oh my…I give up." Ava took a deep breath and changed the topic. "Whatever Snart is, I need to know how exactly he got here. That might help us repair the timeline faster. Can you tell me exactly how you got him out?"

Sara nodded. "Of course." They crossed another street, moving closer to Capitol Hill along the green space beside them. "First of all, Wally West had a theory about the speed force…"


	27. Spies in the Library

Nora carried a tall stack of thick books and ancient scrolls through the corridors of the Waverider. She entered the library and set them down carefully on the table. "Whew," she said, stretching her arms. "That was a lot. If there's nothing in any of these, I am going to be pretty annoyed."

She unrolled a scroll and skimmed through it, then opened the top book on the stack and read through the first few pages. Then, she set it aside and began flipping through the next book. Then the next scroll. She continued searching and cross-referencing until she finally found the entry she was looking for. She read through it thoroughly, then followed its instructions by setting the book it was in open on the floor, marking a circle and ancient symbol with one of Constantine's bags of magic dust, and finally sitting cross-legged in the middle of the circle. She recited a spell three times, closed her eyes, and let the magic do its work.

She felt a gust of wind and opened her eyes. She was in a strangely empty place. It wasn't as blank as the space she and Constantine had pulled Sara and Mick into while saving Snart, but it was still very vacant. The distant top and sides of the space were clear like windows, but they only gave a blurry and warped view of the outside. Nora took a step forward, looking around. "Tabitha," she said quietly, "I know you're here. Show yourself."

An evil laugh echoed around her. Try as she might, Nora couldn't tell what direction it was coming from. "Oh, dear little Nora Darhk," Tabitha's voice said. "Couldn't stay away, could you?"

Nora clenched her fists and spun around slowly, looking for signs of Tabitha. "This isn't a big space," she said. "There's no point in hiding. I'll find you eventually."

"Right you are, deary." Suddenly, Tabitha materialized in front of her, still wearing her dark robes, though missing her staff this time. "Boo."

Nora didn't flinch. She crossed her arms and glared at Tabitha. "I bet you're really proud of yourself for getting away, aren't you?"

"A bit, I suppose," Tabitha answered nonchalantly. "I admit I could have been a bit more graceful about it. However, desperate times call for desperate measures." She smiled condescendingly at Nora. "Deary, you know I'm trapped and powerless. Why bother me now? Come to relish my defeat? Quite unbecoming, I must say."

"You seem pretty confident for someone who's 'trapped and powerless,'" Nora pointed out.

"Do I really? How funny."

"I know you're not done, Tabitha," Nora said accusatorily. "You have something up your sleeve."

Tabitha raised her eyebrows. "Up my sleeve? Deary, look around you." She pointed at the empty space extending in all directions. "I'm inside a bubble with no ability to burst it. Your fears are misplaced, I'm afraid."

Nora shook her head. "I'm not afraid of you, and even if I was, I know you care too much about your revenge to let things go so quickly. You're looking for a way out of here, and if you find one, you're coming for the Legends."

"An interesting suspicion," Tabitha replied. "Why, then, did you come to find me? Hoping to win me over with your goodness? That's much more Ray Palmer's area than yours, deary. Perhaps you ought to send him to me next time. I had so much fun playing with him before, and I know Neron did too."

Nora scowled as she burned with anger. "You leave Ray out of this," she said, forcing herself to stay calm. "You've done enough to him. Now, you're dealing with me. And you know what? You're right. I'm not as good as Ray. That's why you'd better listen up when I tell you this: leave the timeline and the Legends alone, or you'll regret it." She took a step forward, almost close enough to touch Tabitha, and continued to glare threateningly. "Trust me."

Tabitha stood silently for a moment, allowing Nora's words to sink in. "You know," she finally replied, "you must have been truly intimidating once. But now, well, let's just say those heroes you run around with aren't making you any scarier. It's a shame, really, to see your talents wasted like this."

"Shut up," Nora said, cutting her off. "I might be a Legend, but I'm as powerful as ever. So is Constantine. So is the rest of the team. Take my advice and stay in this little crystal ball of yours as long as you can, because the moment you come out, we'll be ready."

"Ha!" Tabitha cackled. "Ready? Deary, I hate to ruin your fun, but…" She moved suddenly and struck Nora's stomach with her fist, which brought with it a small explosion strong enough to send Nora falling backward to the ground. "…you have no idea what you're dealing with."

Nora gasped as she scrambled to her feet. "Your magic. I…I thought you used it up to escape."

"I very nearly did," Tabitha explained. "Were I anywhere else, I would be useless. However, this crystal ball is an artifact of my own creation. I can draw from the power I put into it centuries ago. Of course, I can only draw so much without my staff, and it isn't nearly enough to leave this place." She sent a blast of energy at Nora, who ducked out of the way just in time to dodge it. "But I think it's just enough to finish you!"

"Oh fiddlesticks," Nora muttered just before Tabitha repeated her attack, sending the two of them into an unexpected fight.

* * *

Leonard examined the front cover of a book, then slid it back into place on the shelf. "I'm a patient man," he said to Mick, who was beside him examining the spines on the next shelf level down, "but I'm really starting to wonder if this is a waste of time."

"We're looking for Garima," Mick replied without looking up. "We don't quit until we find her book."

"Right." Leonard peered around the corner of the shelf, trying to see if Zari and Mona were nearby. He didn't see them, so he assumed they were still on the other side of the room. He ducked back behind the shelf. "Well, when we're done here, how much do you want to bet I can steal that wind bracelet off Zari's wrist?"

"What?" Mick grunted, this time turning around toward Leonard in surprise.

"Just for fun. I'd give it back. Probably."

Mick smirked for a second, then his face faded back into a frown. "She'd kill you, Snart."

"Five bucks says I can do it."

"I'm not paying five bucks to watch her kill you."

"So you think I can do it, then."

"Hmph," Mick grunted. He turned his back to Leonard and crouched down to continue searching without another word.

Leonard leaned back against the shelf and looked down at Mick. "Come on, partner, we used to make bets like that all the time, remember?"

Mick couldn't help smiling a little as he recalled many of his memories with Snart. "Yeah," he said, finally looking up at his partner. "It's been a long time since I had someone to make those with."

Snart nodded. "I know. Three years." He stepped around Mick and started looking at the books on his opposite side. "And how have those three years been for you, exactly?" he asked as he perused.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you told me the basics, but obviously it wasn't everything. I've got to wonder what my old partner's been up to, and I'd rather know it all now than keep getting hit with surprises."

Mick straightened up and started looking through the next section higher. "There are no surprises. I'm still on this team. I'm still thieving. I'm still me."

"Yeah," Leonard deadpanned sarcastically, "and you also have a writing career and an alien girlfriend of your own creation."

"So what?"

"So I'm curious what else you haven't told me."

"Nothing."

"You sure about that?" he asked, eyeing Mick skeptically.

"Sure, I'm sure."

Leonard continued to watch his friend carefully for a few silent seconds before returning to his search. "If you say so," he said, although he didn't sound one bit convinced.

On the opposite end of the room, Zari slid a book back into place, then sighed disappointedly. "Ray and Nate better find something soon. We can't be here all day."

Mona pulled out a book and studied its cover. "Mick's not going to leave without the diary. He's doing this for love, however long it takes."

"Love is a stretch," Zari replied. "Lust is more like it. He only brings Garima out when he feels like hooking up with a character he invented. He's basically 'dating' an imaginary friend, except they can actually be physical with each other." She shuddered. "Maybe too physical."

"True," Mona admitted, "but Mick doesn't see it that way."

"No, he does not." Zari walked around Mona to start looking at the spines on the next section of the bookshelf. "To be fair, he is happier when he has Brigid's Diary. Happy Mick is generally less destructive than unhappy Mick. I do appreciate that, as does the rest of the team, I'm sure."

"Like I said, it's the power love." Mona smirked as she continued to peruse the books in front of her. "Kind of like…Sara and Snart."

Zari froze. She turned to look at Mona with noticeable confusion. "Sara and Snart? What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Mona asked. "Sara and Snart will do anything for each other. Plus, they're obviously very close and will not stop flirting whenever they're together."

Zari could not believe what she was hearing. "Wait, just…hold on a second. You don't…you think…Snart and Sara…_like_ each other?"

"Yup. Isn't it romantic?"

Zari stared blankly at Mona for a few moments, thinking through the idea. Finally, she asked, "Don't you think he's a little old for her?"

"How many years apart are you and Nate? Or Ray and Nora?"

Zari held up a finger. "Uh-uh. Not the same. Time travel makes us the same age."

Mona crossed her arms. "Okay, fine. But other than the age thing, what do you think?"

"I think," said Zari, "that you have gone too long without a new romance novel and are starting to see things that aren't there."

"That's why I asked Mick about it."

"And what did he say?"

"That Snart likes Sara, and apparently he has for a while. Don't you think they'd be cute together?"

"Mona, listen." This time, Zari fully turned her body to face her teammate. "Sara just went through a breakup that ended a very serious relationship. If she's not ready to move on from Ava, then it doesn't matter how romantic or flirty her recently undead buddy is. Not everyone has to be in love all the time, and you're not the team matchmaker."

"I helped get you and Nate together," Mona pointed out. "And look how well that worked out!"

Zari sighed exasperatedly. "Just…focus on the mission. Please."

* * *

John Constantine and Charlie found their way to a cottage that looked like something straight out of a fairy tale storybook. "Adorable," Charlie said. "Who lives here?"

"An old acquaintance," John replied. He knocked on the door. "Open up! It's me!"

The door creaked open and a small, funny-looking creature stepped out. Charlie recognized him immediately as a hobgoblin. "John Constantine," he said grumpily. "You've got some nerve coming here."

"I've got some nerve going anywhere, mate." He looked up at the roof, then around the sides of the cottage. "Not living in the woods anymore, I see. Quite an upgrade. I like it."

"I'm not helping you, Constantine."

"Um," Charlie raised her hand, "and why is that?"

The hobgoblin glared directly at John's eyes. "You still owe me from months ago."

"I don't owe you anything, Billy," John countered. "You cheated."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"At what?" Charlie asked.

Both of them turned to her. "Poker," they both said.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Seriously? We go looking for help and you take us to someone you're still fighting over a poker game with?"

"Well," John replied, "I didn't think he'd remember it."

"A hobgoblin never forgets, John," Billy said. "You know the saying."

"That's elephants," John argued.

"That's batty."

"You're batty."

"I can't believe this," Charlie groaned. She cleared her throat to get their attention. "Can we put a months-old game aside for a minute? Tabitha's loose and we're trying to find her."

Billy gasped. "You mean…Neron's lover? That Tabitha? The one who helped him imprison us and tried to bring this world under his power?"

"The same," said Charlie.

"Oh dear," Billy said, shaking his head. "That's not good. Not good at all." He turned to John. "I'll give you a half hour truce. That's it."

"That'll do," John said with a nod. Billy retreated inside, waving at Charlie and John to follow him. John caught a smug smirk on Charlie's face just before entering. "Oh, don't you start," he muttered. "You didn't even want to come."

"Have a seat," Billy said as he welcomed his guests inside. Each of them claimed an awkwardly short armchair in his small living room. "Why don't you start telling me how she came back, eh?" he asked. "Last I checked, she was a dragon's lunch."

"The timeline," John answered. "It got damaged. There are holes ripped through it. Rifts, we're calling them. One of them swallowed her up just before her death and spat her out in 1606."

Billy tilted his head skeptically. "Then why aren't you in 1606?"

"Because we were already there," Charlie explained. "We broke her staff, but she escaped. Vanished entirely."

"She was using the rifts to increase her power," John continued. "She drew energy from them and used it against us."

Billy's eyes widened. "Temporal energy converted into magic? Whew. That's powerful stuff. Most folks wouldn't even touch something like that."

"But you can look for her," John said, leaning forward in his seat to get just a bit closer to Billy. "I've seen you track down magic users with next to nothing to go on. Tabitha's recently used a power unlike anyone else's alive. That ought to be easy for you. Isn't it?"

Billy hesitated. "Yes…and no. If the power was mostly in her staff, and she no longer has it, then there won't be much left to trace." His face brightened as an idea came to him. "But I might know someone who can help."

"Who?" Charlie asked.

"A warlock, or a sorcerer of sorts," Billy explained. "I don't know him very well, but he's been gathering all kinds of powerful artifacts from all eras and nations. He's very concerned about the timeline. He seems to think Mallus's realm is in danger of destabilizing."

Charlie stiffened. "That place is empty now," she said gravely. "The prisoners went free. There's nothing left in that dimension."

"He doesn't seem so sure," Billy replied. "He's been using the artifacts to ensure it doesn't reopen. I don't know exactly what he can do, but if anyone knows anything about the timeline letting things in and out, he would. He's got an apartment in downtown Heyworld. I'll give you directions." He scribbled down an address and a few lines of instructions on a piece of paper, then handed it to John. "He's right next to City Hall. You can't miss the building."

John and Charlie stood up. "Thanks, mate," John said with a grateful smile. "You've been a big help."

Billy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, save the timeline, protect reality. I live here too, you know." He gestured toward the door. "Now, shoo, before I remember how much you owe me."

Before they knew what happened, Charlie and John were once again outside Billy's cottage. Charlie peered over John's shoulder at the address. "Guess we'd better get moving," she said.

John pulled out a cigarette, but Charlie plucked it out of his mouth before he could light it. He rolled his eyes at her. "You used to be fun, you know that?"

"Oh, I assure you," Charlie said with a mischievous grin, "I'm still quite fun. Now, shall we head downtown?"

John sighed and looked back at the address. "All right, love. Downtown it is."

* * *

Nate stuck his head around a corner, looked up and down the hallway in front of him, then stealthily crept across it to reach a door labeled, "Library Records," with an extra sign hanging on it that read, "Authorized Personnel Only." He waved Ray over, who followed him to the door.

"Jackpot," Nate said. He tried the doorknob. "It's bolted shut. Think you can get us in?"

"You got it, buddy." Ray leaned in closer to study the door. "I could put on my suit and shrink down, but there might be an easier way." He rolled up his sleeve and revealed the shrink ray strapped to his wrist. Carefully, he sent a thin beam into the crack between the door and the wall. The bolt holding it shut shrank down until it no longer filled the gap. Ray turned the knob and opened the door, grinning proudly.

Nate patted him on the back, then stepped inside. Ray followed him in and shut the door silently behind him. There were countless drawers of files, plus additional boxes and cabinets on all sides of the room. "Yikes," Nate said. "Not that I've ever been afraid of a little research, but this is going to take a while."

"We just need to narrow it down," Ray reminded him. "Gideon said the book was recently added to the collection. Maybe they have a section of files for books that are new to the system."

Nate nodded. "Good point. Let's look for that first. I'll start on the left. You start on the right."

"Perfect."

They dove into the files, each taking one side. The files themselves were very well organized but sifting through records of over a hundred million books was a challenging endeavor all the same. Finally, however, Ray did spot something promising. "Eureka!" he exclaimed, pulling a large file out of one of the drawers. "New arrivals." He set it down on the nearest desk.

Nate stopped his search and joined him. "Good job, buddy." He carefully opened the file and began to read through the titles and call numbers listed. "No…no…not that one…doesn't look like it…hm…no…maybe?" He looked to Ray for a second opinion as he pointed to an entry.

Ray bent down to study it closely. "It looks logical enough. Should we call them?"

"Wouldn't hurt." Nate tried his comms. "Hey, Z. Z? Hello?" A realization hit him. "Dude," he said, "there's no reception. That means the rift is here too."

"Aha!" Ray exclaimed excitedly. "Two for one! And here I thought we'd have to break into the Capitol or something. What a relief."

"I know, right? This is way easier." He pulled out the piece of paper containing the record. "I'll take this to Zari and the others. Do you mind looking over the rest of the file, just in case?"

"Sure thing," Ray said enthusiastically. "I've always wanted to go behind the scenes at one of the most iconic intellectual institutions in the country. Besides, as a huge fan of organization, this room is like a work of art for me."

Nate gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "Knock yourself out, bro." He turned around and slipped out the door.

* * *

"Okay," Ava said as Sara wrapped up her description of Snart's rescue. Her explanation had taken so long that the two of them were now walking along the back of Capitol Hill. "That was…interesting. Very interesting. And complicated."

"Yeah, it was," Sara replied. "But it worked. We saved Snart."

"True, but some things still don't add up."

"Like what?"

Ava stopped walking and turned to fully face Sara. "Ray's device was supposed to completely detach Snart from the timeline, wasn't it?"

"It was."

"Well, I'm not so sure it did."

Sara suddenly remembered Ray's findings from Leonard's test results. _With levels like these_, she recalled Ray saying, _Snart should not have survived being pulled out of the timeline_. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Ava paused a moment, then explained, "The rifts aren't just caused by someone messing with time. They're caused by something being removed from it. Remember when I said that it's like a tapestry? Pulling a thread out weakens the whole thing, loosening it up to create gaps and holes. The more rifts are created, the more the thread unravels, which then creates more rifts. That's why Tabitha harnessing energy from the rifts is extra dangerous. If she keeps pulling temporal energy out of the rifts, the overall fabric of time gets even thinner and weaker."

Sara had a feeling she knew what Ava was implying, but she decided to ask anyway. "What are you saying, Director Sharpe?"

"I'm saying that some of the timeline was still bonded to Snart when he got pulled out. I don't mean he just absorbed some extra temporal energy. I mean that he took that first thread with him, and the rest started unraveling once it was gone."

Sara crossed her arms, looked at the ground for a moment, then looked back up at Ava. "That…would explain a couple things. I don't know what to tell you about it, though. Snart's here, whether he's still bonded to that thread or not."

"I know," Ava said with a nod. "I just…I just need to look into what that could mean. The possible implications are infinite. I'll probably need to talk to Ray. He's the scientific mind on your ship. He might have some theories."

"Maybe."

Just then, the two of them found themselves ambushed by a crowd of tourists in matching red t-shirts. They backed themselves up against the short wall along the edge of the sidewalk to let them pass. Ava glanced sideways at Sara. "I've been in DC for years," she said under her breath, just loud enough for Sara to hear her, "but I'm still not used to living in a tourist destination."

Sara rolled her eyes as the group passed. Unfortunately, the sidewalk was small, which meant that they moved slowly and took up most of the space. She overheard one of the tourists close to her ask a man who she had to assume with the tour leader, "What's that building across the street?"

"That," the leader said, standing still just long enough to answer, much to Sara's and Ava's chagrin, "is the Library of Congress. It houses over one hundred sixty-eight million books." He started moving again, still slowly enough to stay in earshot. "You wouldn't expect this, but it was actually the site where government officials uncovered what was believed to be a mysterious Soviet conspiracy during the early stages of the Cold War."

Sara blinked. She hadn't heard that story before. "Hey," she said, chasing the tour leader a few steps. "What did you just say?"

He turned around and smiled as he explained, "In 1950, a suspicious man and his associates were caught tampering with the library's records with technology that did not exist in the United States. They never officially confessed, but the FBI couldn't find any possible explanation other than Soviet espionage." He then added cheerfully, "If you want more stories like that, you can sign up for a tour at our website…"

"Uh-huh," Sara cut him off dismissively. "Yeah. Okay. Bye." She hurried back to Ava. "Something doesn't feel right," she told her. "You've spent basically your whole life in DC. Have you ever heard that story?"

"No," Ava admitted, "but it's not like I regularly eavesdrop on tour groups." She noticed Sara pulling out her phone. "What are you doing?"

"Checking on a hunch," she said as she typed. After a moment, she gasped and turned the phone to face Ava. "I found the story. This is the guy they thought was the spy."

Ava's jaw dropped. The image was grainy and colorless, but it was still clearly a picture of Ray Palmer. "You don't think…"

"The Legends," Sara interrupted her as she put her phone away. "I told them to try to complete one mission while I was gone." She gave the Library of Congress a glance, then returned her attention to Ava. "We need to get back to the Time Bureau and contact the Waverider. They could be in huge trouble. There's no time to lose."

* * *

Ray flipped through the last few records in the folder. "I guess that's it," he said to himself. He took one more admiring look at his incredibly organized surroundings before turning around to open return the folder to its proper place. In the process, he nearly tripped over a small box jutting ever so slightly out from under the table. "Whoops!" He carefully held the folder together as he regained his balance. "Glad I didn't drop this. That would be bad." He paused and tilted his head to the side questioningly. "Do I talk to myself too much?" He answered himself with a shrug, then put the folder away.

In the hallway, Nate spotted a security guard walking toward him from the opposite direction. He realized it was the same one who the team had snuck past earlier and looked around for a place to hide. Quickly, he ducked behind a corner and let the guard pass. "Whew," he whispered to himself once the guard was gone. "That was close." He stuck his head back out into the hallway and noticed the direction the guard was going. He was headed straight for the records room. His eyes widened in fear. "Uh-oh."

The guard turned the knob and seemed surprised that it wasn't bolted shut. He opened the door and saw Ray standing in the middle of the room. "Hey," the guard said, "weren't you the guy that tried to get in without an ID?"

Ray held his hands up innocently. "What? No…I was just…um…" He had never been good at lying to authority figures, but he tried to think of a convincing story anyway. "…this isn't the gift shop, is it?"

It was clear from the guard's face that he was not buying it. He spotted a strange object on the ground, bent down, and picked it up. It looked like a tiny box. _Uh-oh_, Ray thought. _My suit. I must have dropped it when I tripped over the box. Please don't open it, please don't open it, please don't…_ The guard opened it. _Crap._

The guard stared at the suit, then at Ray. "I've never seen something like this before. Where'd you get it from?"

"Um…home?"

"Yeah? And why did you use it to break into here?"

Ray started to correct him. "Technically, I didn't use that to…Oh. I mean, I didn't…do that. I'm just…uh…lost."

"You really expect me to believe that?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I don't." The security guard closed the box and stuck it in his pocket. "I know some people who'll want to see this."

Ray offered a sheepish smile. "Oh, want me to explain the science behind it? I'm flattered, but I don't think I have time to…" Two more men stepped into the room from the hallway. One held a gun. The other flashed an FBI badge. "…oh."

Nate watched the scene unfold from a distance. "Oh no," he whispered, knowing that Ray couldn't hear him but saying it anyway. "Hang in there, buddy. I'm going to get help." He bolted as quietly as he could down the nearest staircase to find Zari and the rest of the Legends.

* * *

**A/N: I know this mission might seem a little light on Captain Canary moments, but if Leonard really did come back to the Waverider, he'd have to interact with the other Legends sometimes too. Also, Mick's been through a lot since the last time Leonard saw him, so I think they need a little time to address that, which will be happening over the next few chapters. Coming up, we'll also see the warlock John and Charlie are looking for, where Brigid's Diary is, and exactly how well Ray handles getting caught...**


	28. Lots of Questions, Not Enough Answers

**A/N: A little explanation first...I've mentioned before that I'm basically trying to write the equivalent of a season of LoT with Snart and Zari 1.0 picking up where season 4 left off. I'm not sure exactly how long it'll end up being, but I'm trying to fit in about a season's worth of plot, so expect it to be LONG. Anyway, since it's kind of like an Arrowverse season, I did what a lot of Arrowverse shows do and took a pretty minor DC Comics character who hasn't been in the Arrowverse before, but adapted him SUPER loosely to fit this story. Like, _really_ loosely, so please don't come after me for not getting him right if you know who he is in the comics. I guess that means he's technically an OC, but he's still based on something else to a degree. (As opposed to Billy from last chapter, who's 100% an OC.) Either way, you've kind of seen him before in a previous chapter, but you'll find out his name this chapter, and he's going to be pretty important from here on out.**

* * *

Charlie and John stood in front of the door leading to the apartment they had been directed to. It was a simple wooden door in a building that looked ordinary enough to exist anywhere, almost to the point of being out of place in Heyworld. Charlie turned to John and asked, "Anything about this feel odd to you?"

"No more than usual," John replied dismissively, "but I trust Billy at everything but poker, so…" He raised his fist to knock at he trailed off.

Charlie interrupted him, causing him to lower his hand. "I've just been thinking it over. We didn't even get a name for this bloke, and your little hobgoblin mate said that he's a warlock studying Mallus's realm. There weren't many warlocks imprisoned there, and those who were wouldn't be in a rush to play around with it again, no matter how destabilized it might be."

"Charlie," he replied confidently, "you are standing next to a master of the dark arts and one of the most powerful magicians on this earth. Or any others that I know of."

"Humble."

"Shut up. If this man's a problem, I can handle him. As it is, we haven't anything better to try, do we?"

Charlie shrugged. "I suppose not," she admitted.

Without another word, John knocked on the door. For a few moments, they stood there silently and waited for a response. It seemed like no one was coming. Just as things were beginning to be awkward, the door was suddenly jerked open. A tall man stood in the doorway. He had long, messy brown hair and wore a tie-dyed orange and green shirt with dark pants and an unzipped brown hoodie, all of which fit relatively loosely on his frame. A necklace with three separate symbols of good luck strung on it hung around his neck. "Can I help you?" he asked, his tone very relaxed and casual.

Charlie and Constantine exchanged confused looks. "Um," Constantine began, "we're looking for a warlock, but I'm not sure if…"

"Oh! That would be me, then," the man said, opening his door a little wider. "Hey, aren't you John Constantine, master of the dark arts and one of the most powerful warlocks who ever lived?" He grabbed Constantine's hand and shook it enthusiastically. "It's an honor to meet you. Big fan."

John smirked back. "Now, there's a greeting I like to hear."

"And what's your name?" Charlie asked, still a bit uneasy but trying to mask it.

"Paul Christian," the man said. "You can just call me Paul. No need to bother with formalities. We're all friends here."

"We literally just met," Charlie pointed out.

"Exactly." Paul redirected his attention fully at John. "To what do I owe the pleasure of the great John Constantine seeking me out?"

Charlie could practically see John's ego inflating. "Well," John said, leaning his arm against the doorframe, "I heard a rumor that you're looking into the timeline and how to fix it. We might be able to help each other out, magician to magician."

A strange look flashed across Paul's face just fast enough for Charlie to be uncertain if she saw it or not. "Ah, yes," he said, still smiling and speaking calmly. "The timeline. Not in the best shape at the moment, is it?" He stepped back from the doorway. "I'd love to have a chat about it. Come on in."

John and Charlie stepped inside and found themselves in a very open apartment covered in mostly golden, green, and brown tones. There were tapestries, paintings, and decorative mystical symbols from all different sources hanging against the walls. Sunlight streamed in through an open window. In one corner sat a comically overgrown plant that seemed to be some species of beanstalk. "If I'd known you were coming," Paul said, "I'd have prepared a bit more for guests. You surprised me in the middle of my meditation. But I'd be happy to make you something if you'd…"

"Are you looking into Mallus's realm?" Charlie asked, interrupting him.

He seemed neither phased nor surprised by the question. "As a matter of fact, I am."

"Were you a prisoner there?" she questioned him further. "I don't recall seeing you."

"It was a large prison," he replied, "but no, you didn't see me because I wasn't there."

Charlie frowned confusedly. "Then what are you doing in Heyworld?"

Paul chuckled. "What am I doing here? Why, what better place to be?" He waved his arms at the wide variety of charms and mystical objects surrounding him. "What better place to study magic and add to my collection? There's no rule saying newcomers can't move into the neighborhood."

"You're right about that, mate," John said before Charlie could ask any more questions. "Now, about Mallus's realm…"

"It's in danger of reopening," Paul said. "The first time, it was opened by anachronisms scattered throughout time. Now, there are anachronisms again due to holes where something is…missing." He paused, looking away in a somewhat dramatic fashion before continuing, "The thinner the timeline's fabric gets, the easier it'll be to reopen Mallus's realm."

"Wait, hold on," Charlie said, stepping forward toward him. "You're not a time traveler or a Bureau agent. How do you know all that?"

Paul raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How do I know? What an odd question." His face softened into a smile. "I know the same way I know a lot of things. I've studied it." He reached into a small urn on the bookshelf behind him, took a pinch of some powdery substance, and snapped his fingers, scattering it into the air. A glowing, white model of the timeline appeared in the space between them, like a ghostly copy of Gideon's projections. "The Legends aren't the only ones with knowledge. I've consulted every mystical source on the planet concerning the state of the timeline. As long as time continues to unravel, it'll take strong magic to keep that place closed." He snapped his fingers again and the model disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"One question, mate," John said. "Last I checked, there wasn't anybody left in that dimension. At least, none trying to leave it. Everyone wanting to come into this dimension already did, and they're your next-door neighbors. Why all the concern about a place that's practically abandoned?"

Paul put his palms together thoughtfully. "A wise question. I can see why you're one of the greats." He took a step toward John and answered seriously, "I've heard reports that there are those seeking to return to Mallus's dimension. There are still enough traces of Mallus and his power for them to try to steal some for themselves. At least, that's what they say." He turned his face so that he now faced both Constantine and Charlie. "They also say that Tabitha, Neron's old flame, is one of them."

"Tabitha?" Charlie repeated. "She's behind reopening that prison?" She gagged, disgusted. "Ugh, she would be. Bloody psycho witch."

"You'd be happy to know, then," John said, "that stopping Tabitha's our business too. She disappeared in 1606 and we're tracking her down."

"As I guessed," Paul replied. "She is your enemy." He turned back to directly face John again. "In fact, as I remember, didn't you deal the final blow to her beloved demon? She'll be hunting you down for that. I'd be very afraid if I were you." He frowned in a way that seemed almost disappointed. "Aren't you afraid, Constantine?"

John shrugged. "Eh, I don't scare easily."

Paul took a step back. "If you say so." He paced a couple of steps, then suddenly stopped and looked at his two guests with an enthusiastic grin. "Say, here's an idea. You two want to stop Tabitha. I might not know exactly where she is, but I can say that solidifying the barrier between Mallus's dimension and ours will thwart her plans significantly. At the very least, it would buy you time, and that's a very precious resource these days."

John and Charlie exchanged glances. "How would we do that?" Charlie asked.

"By helping me with a spell," Paul replied. "The artifacts I've gathered are like band-aids over a wound, but some magic words from a master like John Constantine ought to be more than enough to keep that barrier closed for a long time. It should only take a few minutes. After that, I can help you continue your search."

John turned his head to the right, then the left, surveying the apartment carefully. "Right. And, uh, where would we be working this spell, exactly? And with what materials? You've got a lot of valuable things in this place, but I don't see any that would directly tie us to…"

"Ah, of course," Paul interrupted him, again seeming completely unsurprised. "How silly of me. I should have made that clear." He walked over to the back wall of the living room, pressed his hand against it, and whispered three magic words. A green, glowing outline of a door suddenly appeared, then creaked open, revealing a hidden staircase into what seemed to be a basement. Paul grinned and stepped aside. "After you."

John didn't follow him right away. Charlie noted his tiny moment of hesitation and grabbed his arm. "Lovely offer," she said as she pulled him to the far side of the room, "but I think we need a team huddle first, if you don't mind."

"Take your time," Paul said understandingly.

Once the two Legends were decently far away from their host, Charlie whispered, "John, we don't know anything about this bloke except that he knows magic and a bit too much about Mallus's dimension. He's also obviously trying to flatter you into helping him. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"No," John whispered back, "but it's the only lead we've got. If we follow him down there, we can find out exactly who he is and what he's trying to do."

"And if we find something off?"

"We leave and alert the Legends." He glanced over his shoulder at Paul, still waiting patiently at the doorway. "Look, love, I'm got my suspicions too. But if something is wrong with his story, it's our business to know. And if nothing's wrong, then helping him thwart Tabitha is also our business. Clear?"

Charlie gave in. "Crystal." She turned around and smiled back at Paul. "Looks like we're joining you."

"Excellent," Paul replied with a nod. "I had a feeling you would." He extended his arm out toward the door in a dramatic gesture. "Please, step right in. I guarantee it will be worth your while." John and Charlie walked to the door and descended the stairs with him.

* * *

Nate snuck back into the reading room and immediately located Zari and Mona. "Psst," he whispered, sticking his head around the corner of the stacks. "Z! We have a problem."

Zari stopped looking at book spines and turned to him. "What?"

"Ray and I found a possible location for the book," Nate explained, "but he stayed behind in the records room to double check."

"Okay?"

"But that security guard from earlier and a couple of FBI agents found him and saw his A.T.O.M. suit, so now they're suspicious and questioning him about it."

"Oh crap," Zari said. "How do you think he's handling it? Does he have a good cover story?"

"I don't know," Nate replied. "I had to leave to find you."

Mona shook her head. "Ray didn't even know how to handle getting pulled over until last year," she pointed out. "This isn't good."

"You've got that right," Zari agreed. She asked Nate, "Why didn't you stay with him and call us on comms?"

"Because comms aren't working," Nate answered. "And that means…"

"The rift!" both Mona and Zari said, slightly above a whisper.

"Exactly."

"Shoot. Okay." Zari closed her eyes for a moment, fabricating a plan. "This just got a little more complicated." She opened her eyes and looked between her two teammates. "I've got an idea. Follow me." She led them across the large room until they found Mick and Leonard. "Hey," she said quietly, catching their attention. "We've got a situation."

Mick grunted an acknowledgement, but otherwise made no move to stop what he was doing. Leonard looked up and spun around to face Zari. "Let me guess," he deadpanned. "Did Raymond get in trouble?"

"How did you know?" Mona asked.

Leonard shrugged. "He's the only one not here. And some things never change. So, what did he do this time?"

"He got caught carrying futuristic technology and breaking into federal records," Nate replied. "Now, he's being questioned about it. We're in the early stages of the Cold War and the middle of the Second Red Scare, so I'm willing to bet they think he's a spy or something."

Leonard smirked amusedly. "They think that Boy Scout's a spy?" He shook his head. "That is hilarious."

"Not if it changes the timeline, it isn't," Zari corrected him.

"Hey, relax," Leonard said calmly. "This is the Library of Congress. It's not like he got caught breaking into the Pentagon. He's probably fine."

Zari rolled her eyes, then took the paper out of Nate's hands and passed it to Leonard. "This is where we think the diary is," she said.

Mick straightened up and peered over Leonard's shoulder at the paper. "Nice," he said.

"The rift is somewhere in the building too," she continued, still speaking to Leonard. "You and Mick need to find the book, then the rift. Ray still has the temporal energy gun, but if you can just locate it, that'll still save us time. Meanwhile, the three of us will rescue Ray. We all need to work quickly if we want to get out of here without changing the timeline. Got it?"

"We've got it," Leonard replied.

"Good." Zari turned to Nate and Mona. "Then let's go find Ray. Come on!" They hurried away in search of their friend.

Leonard turned to Mick. "Special collections," he said. "Someone must have figured out that it's not a normal book."

"Cool." Mick started to walk away. Once he was a few feet in front of Leonard, he froze, then turned around. "I mean…uh…I'll follow you," he said awkwardly. "That's what we do. That's what I meant."

Leonard stared at his partner for a second, a little confused by his behavior. "Yeah," he finally said. "It is." He checked the location on the paper one more time before taking the lead in the direction of the library's special collections.

* * *

"Guys, really," Ray protested as he looked around at the faces of the FBI agents and security guard surrounding him. They were still in the Library of Congress, but they had moved him from the records room to the security office. Ray sat in a chair behind a table while his accusers stood on the opposite side looking down at him. He knew he still had his shrink ray hidden under his sleeves and the temporarily shrunken-down temporal energy gun in his pocket, but he figured that using either of those to get out of the situation would only further antagonize his questioners. He also didn't think he could bring himself to shoot any authority figure. He could barely even lie to one. "This is unnecessary. It's all a misunderstanding."

One of the agents opened the small green box in his hand and held it up so that the tiny suit inside faced Ray. "Care to explain this?"

"It's a…model," Ray tried to explain. "I make models. Like action figures. He's like a space…hero…person."

"It's not a model," the other agent countered. "We took a look at it under a magnifying glass. This thing's got working parts capable of all kinds of damage."

"Yeah," Ray said, "It's…um…really realistic. I always like to make them realistic."

"Who did you make it for, then?" the first agent asked, placing his hands on the table and leaning forward toward Ray's face.

"Myself," Ray said, forcing himself to sound confident in what was genuinely a truthful answer. "I made it for myself. Who else would I make it for?"

"We've got some ideas," the second agent answered. "What's your name?"

Ray tried to think of an alias and said the first one that popped into his head. "Harry Potter."

The agent crossed his arms. "Harry Potter?" he repeated skeptically.

"It's, um, short for Harold."

"Okay, Mr. Potter." The agent paced a few steps, apparently no longer concerned with the name Ray had given him. "Have you traveled out of the country recently?"

"No."

"Really?" He stopped pacing and stood still directly in front of Ray. "How about less recently? Ever been to Moscow, Mr. Potter?"

Ray hesitated for a second. _Technically_, he told himself, _it's only 1950 and I went there in 1986, so I haven't actually been there yet_. "Moscow? No," he said. "Never been. Why would I go there?"

"We'll ask the questions, Mr. Potter."

"Okay." Ray smiled cheerfully, hoping to look as innocent as possible. "You got it."

"Where did you get this technology?" the first agent asked.

"I already told you. I made it."

"You made the tiny suit. Where did you get the parts?"

"Oh, I made those too."

The two agents exchanged looks. "You sure about that?" the second one asked.

Ray knew he was telling the truth, so he wasn't sure why he felt so nervous. "Y-yeah. Yeah, I did. That's all me."

"Did anyone help you? An assistant? A friend? Anybody?"

"No."

"You really expect us to believe that, huh?"

"Well…yeah. I'm an inventor. I invent things. It's what I do."

"And you just happened to invent a miniature suit of armor that contains destructive capabilities beyond most military equipment and uses technology never before seen by the U.S. government…for fun?"

Ray offered a sheepish smile. "I…uh…well, I've got to do something with my free time, right?"

The security guard decided to speak up. "What about your friends who came in with you?" he asked. "You tried to get past me without any ID. There was a man with you who had one, and then a woman who faked an emergency to let you in. Who are they?"

"Oh. Yeah." Ray shrugged and gave the guard an innocent look. "Like you said, they're my friends."

"What are they doing here?" the guard asked. "And why did they try to sneak in instead of getting IDs from the desk?"

"Um…they just…really like reading?"

"And helping you break into the records of a federal government institution," the first FBI agent suggested.

Ray smiled at them, trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible. "Come on, guys. What's this all about? I forgot my ID, then got lost and ended up in the wrong room. I'm very sorry. If you want to kick me out, that's fine with me. There's no reason to escalate this beyond that."

"We'll be the judge of that, Mr. Potter," the second agent said.

"Why?" Ray asked. "I told you what happened. I just don't see a cause for concern."

"Then let me spell it out for you," the second agent replied. "We've got a Cold War on our hands and rumors of Soviets infiltrating the government. Then, some 'inventor' shows up in DC with no identification, carrying weapons that shouldn't exist, and poking around in restricted areas he shouldn't have access to. Still think we're the ones escalating it?"

Ray's jaw dropped. "Wait…what? That's what this is about? You think I'm a Soviet spy?"

"You said it," the agent replied, "not me."

Ray shook his head emphatically. "That's ridiculous! I'm not Russian. I don't even speak Russian. I'm totally American. I mean, I grew up in Ivy Town. Quiet, normal Ivy Town."

"Soviet agents can come from anywhere," the first agent countered. "Even Ivy Town."

"Maybe," Ray conceded, "but that's not me. I'm not a spy for anybody." He held up three fingers. "Scout's honor."

"Okay," he replied, though is expression seemed unconvinced. "In that case, tell us what you were looking for in the records."

Ray hesitated. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. It was…it was an accident."

"You don't accidentally break into a locked room with restricted access. What were you looking for?"

Ray could feel himself starting to falter. He knew he had to come up with a better explanation. He decided to be as vague as possible. "Fine. I was looking for something, but it was a totally normal thing to look for. I couldn't find the book I wanted, so I was trying to figure out where it was. I guess I should've just asked, but hindsight is twenty-twenty, right?"

"What was the book?" the second agent asked.

Ray tried to avoid answering. "Oh, it was nothing special."

"If it wasn't special, you wouldn't have gone to those lengths to find it. What was the title of the book?"

"Uh…you know what?" Ray replied with a self-deprecating smile. "I am totally blanking on the name. It's that funny? Man, irony is great." He chuckled, then held up his finger as if making a point. "And if I was a spy looking for something important, I wouldn't forget it. I think. Not that I'd know. That's just my guess. So, as you can see, I'm not a spy." He glanced at the door, then back at the agents and guard. "Can I, uh…can I go now?"

The first agent turned to the security guard. "You saw his friends, right?"

"Right," the guard confirmed.

"Go see if any records are missing," the agent ordered. "If they are, his friends have them. See if they're still in the building."

"Oh, that's really not necessary," Ray insisted.

"Why?" the agent asked skeptically. "Afraid we'll find something out about your friends?"

"N-no. No. It's just…you'd be wasting your time. I'm sure you guys have more important things to do. I'd hate to take up your whole day over a trivial misunderstanding."

"Uh-huh. Sure." The agent turned to the guard again. "Go." The guard nodded and left the room. "And as for you," he said, turning back to Ray. "We've got a few more questions…"

* * *

The Library of Congress's special collections wing contained various rare and highly valuable books, manuscripts, and historical documents. Access to that section of the library was restricted, for the most part, to researchers with the necessary qualifications. Of course, for Leonard Snart, finding a way to get himself and Mick in unnoticed without the proper credentials was almost too easy. It therefore wasn't long before the two thieves found themselves in the middle of the special collections wing, surrounded by hundreds of incredibly valuable literary and historical items.

"Not that libraries are usually my kind of target," Leonard whispered, "but with stuff like this around, I've got to say, I'm tempted." He carefully examined an illuminated manuscript that was encased in glass along the wall. "How much do you think this one's worth?"

Mick joined him and stared at it. "A lot," he answered. He turned around and started to walk slowly down the wall, analyzing each text displayed in the locked glass containers. "If you find something smaller, the boss might actually let you keep it. Not that that's ever stopped me from grabbing something bigger."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Mick?"

"I mean Sara lets us steal now," he answered without looking back. "It's called…uh…souvenirs. But only little things. If you steal something big, you've got to hide it from her."

Leonard smirked and crossed his arms. "Small-scale theft is allowed these days, huh? Now that's going to make things a little more interesting." He walked a few paces in Mick's direction, then stopped and leaned sideways against the wall. Mick continued to walk forward, examining the books. "And were you always planning on letting me in on that, or were you going to keep it to yourself for a while longer?"

Mick stopped walking and looked back at Leonard over his shoulder. "Huh?"

"Well, you haven't exactly been an open book lately."

Mick huffed and stomped back to stand in front of Leonard. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked with a scowl.

Leonard remained as calm and collected as usual. "You've been hiding things from me, Mick. You know that never ends well."

"I haven't been hiding anything." He hesitated a moment under Leonard's piercing gaze, then clarified, "I mean…maybe I haven't told you everything, but I told you everything that was important."

"Of course you did," Leonard said sarcastically. "You just happened to forget about Rebecca Silver, Garima, and the fact that minor theft is acceptable now. Because none of those are things I'd need to know."

Mick narrowed his eyes and growled, "Since when are you all about sharing?"

"I'm not. I'm about planning." He moved away from the wall but continued to maintain eye contact with Mick. "When we pull jobs together, I make the plans for both of us. That's how it's always been. I have to have a plan for every possibility so that, if and when things go wrong, we're both prepared. Now, partner, you tell me how exactly I'm supposed to plan for everything if I don't have all the information."

"Hmph," Mick grunted. "You're one to talk."

Leonard's brow furrowed. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I've been trying to get you to talk to me about Sara for a while now, and all you do is pretend nothing's going on."

Leonard's expression grew colder. "This is different," he said, his voice slightly lower than usual.

"Oh yeah? How?"

"I'm trying to make sure I know everything I need to know so that I can plan accordingly. That's something that helps both of us. You're poking around in stuff that isn't your business for no practical reason. That helps nobody."

"Why do you have to know everything, but I don't?" Mick demanded. "You're not the boss of me."

A stunned silence followed. Leonard felt an instinct to contradict him, but after a moment of consideration, he shut his mouth. This time, Mick had a point. Leonard technically hadn't been Mick's boss in a long time. "Mick…" he started to say.

Mick took a breath and relaxed a little. "I…uh…I didn't mean it like that," he said sheepishly.

"No, you did," Leonard replied, "but I get it."

Mick raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Leonard shrugged. "I haven't been your boss in three years. Stuff's different now. I get it." He started walking away, perusing another section of the special collections. "That's why I need to know what's going on with you. I've never liked being left in the dark, and I like it from my partner even less."

Mick followed Leonard, keeping his eyes peeled for Brigid's Diary as he said, "Well, maybe you should get used to it."

Leonard spun around and looked at him sharply. "Get used to what?"

"Not knowing everything."

"Then how do you expect me to plan for everything, Mick?"

"I don't know. You figure that part out. That's your job, isn't it?"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Seriously? You're being ridiculous."

"No," Mick said, pointing his finger accusingly at Leonard's chest, "you're the ridiculous one. I told you to stop asking me stuff, but you still won't shut up. All I want to do is act like everything's back to normal with us."

"Same here," Leonard agreed.

"Good. Then quit trying to know everything, or I'll tell you something you really don't want to know."

Leonard smirked amusedly. "Wow," he drawled. "Now there's a scary threat."

"I mean it." Mick straightened up his posture and looked Leonard right in the eyes. "Ask me any more questions and you'll be sorry."

"Mm…I doubt it."

"I'm warning you, Snart."

"Whatever." Leonard spun around and strolled along the length of the bookshelf beside him, admiring each ornately decorated text inside its locked case. He didn't seem too worried about Mick's threat.

Leonard's lack of concern annoyed Mick enough for him to blurt out, "You know what? Here's something you don't know: I watched the 'Lord of the Rings' movies without you. All three. Extended Edition. Back to back."

Leonard turned around, though he stayed several feet in front of Mick. "I've been trying to talk you into watching those with me for years," he said.

"Yeah," Mick replied. "But I watched them without you. And Haircut even went to the set and met Denethor."

"John Noble?"

"Yup."

Leonard remained completely calm. The news didn't seem to bother him. "So you watched some movies while I was dead. Big deal."

Mick crossed his arms and frowned, disappoint in the lack of reaction. He thought for a moment, then tried again. "Oh yeah? Well…I also let Haircut mess around with your gun."

Leonard's expression shifted a tiny bit, but not enough to be considered anything close to an emotional reaction. "Raymond? What did he do?"

"Everything," Mick answered. "Carried it around, took it apart, put it back together, used the core to stop a bomb…"

Leonard waved his hand dismissively. "Listen, Mick, I gave you my gun to hang onto. What you did with it while I was gone was up to you." He smirked. "And I still haven't learned anything I regret knowing. Give up yet?"

Mick clenched his fists. At this point, he just wanted Leonard to drop his cool, collected, snarky attitude. He'd forgotten how frustrating it could be. "You know what?" he said, a little too loud for being in a library. "I've got one that'll really get under your skin."

"Sure you do."

A mischievous gleam came into Mick's eyes as he grinned wickedly, then blurted out, "Sara slept with Constantine."

That one got a reaction. Leonard froze up for a second, then blinked several times, and finally stared at Mick in disbelief. "Sara…and…Constantine?"

"Yup."

Leonard was struggling to make sense of this information. As the wheels turned in his head, he said, "But I thought Ava…"

"Before Ava." Mick took a step closer, looking very smug. "But the thing is, you don't live on a spaceship with Ava. You live on a spaceship with that magic English weasel. And now you're not going to be able to see him around the ship without thinking about it."

Leonard was already thinking about it. More accurately, he was remembering how close Constantine and Sara had seemed during the battle against the time pirates. He glared at Mick. "Shut up," he growled.

"Ha!" Mick exclaimed proudly. "See what I mean? That's what you get for asking questions when it's none of your business."

"Well, if that's how you really feel," Leonard drawled as he turned his back to Mick, "you can finish looking for your girlfriend by yourself." He started to walk away.

Mick waited a moment, expecting Leonard to stop. When he didn't, Mick chased after him a few paces. "Hey! Snart! Where are you going?"

"To find the rift," he answered coldly without looking back, "and let you cool off."

"I don't need to cool off," Mick insisted. "I'm fine. You started it." Leonard kept walking without acknowledging him. "Hey! Snart! Come back!" Still no reply. Before long, he was out of view. Mick groaned, then grumbled, "Cool off. I don't need to cool off. He needs to cool off." He stood in silence for a moment and his expression softened as began to feel a sense of regret. "He…he'll be back, right?" He looked around the now empty room. "Yeah," he assured himself. "He'll be back."

* * *

Nora dodged Tabitha's attacks nimbly until she found herself backed up against the curved, transparent edge of the crystal ball. She conjured a glowing circular shield and held it in front of herself. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded as Tabitha's next blast bounced off her shield. "Even if you kill me, you're still trapped in here. Don't think the other Legends won't find you."

Tabitha paused her fighting and smirked. "Oh, I'm counting on it."

The unexpected response shook Nora's concentration, making her shield vanish. "Wait, what?"

Tabitha took the opportunity to throw a direct blast at Nora, knocking her to the ground. She took a step closer, towering over her. "Oh, deary," she said. "You really have no idea, do you? Your friends are the ones who are going to get me out of here."

Nora pushed herself upright and glared at Tabitha. "Like they'd ever do that."

Tabitha walked back a few paces and waved her arm at the other side of the crystal ball. "See for yourself." The surface cleared up so that Nora could see a clearer, if still a bit warped, image of the outside. It was a dark room cluttered with boxes and magical objects. She stood up and took a step closer, then saw three figures standing nearby. She recognized two of them.

"John and Charlie?" she said with surprise. "What are they doing here?"

"You'll see," Tabitha replied smugly. She reached out and grabbed Nora's arm, then tried to shove her down. Nora twisted herself out of her grip and ran to the other side of the crystal ball. She knocked her fist against the glass.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Guys! Stop! Whatever you're doing, don't do it! Ah!"

An invisible force jerked her backward and pinned her against the opposite side of the glass. Tabitha kept her hand outstretched toward Nora, holding her still so that she was unable to struggle. "They can't hear you, deary," she taunted. "But don't worry, you'll still get to watch the show."

Outside the crystal ball, John and Charlie took in their surroundings. "You've sure got a lot of stuff down here," Charlie commented. "Is it all magic?"

"Almost all," Paul replied. "Be very careful. Some of these artifacts are very delicate, and they're all incredibly rare." He took off his hoodie and switched it out for a long, dark coat that was hanging by the staircase. He rubbed his hands together, then turned to John. "I've been studying the barrier between dimensions a lot lately and I think I have just the right spell to shut it down. I just don't have the power to pull it off alone."

John crossed his arms, still looking around at the eclectic combination of magical objects in Paul's basement. "What's the spell?"

Paul reached deep into a wooden crate and pulled out an ancient-looking scroll. "This." He unrolled it and handed it to John. Charlie took a step closer to him and they looked at it together. Paul leaned in and asked, "Ever seen it before?"

John examined every detail of the scroll carefully. The instructions were very clear and specific, but he didn't recognize the spell itself. "No," he answered. "I thought I knew them all." He looked curiously at Paul. "Where did you get this from?"

"Oh, it's very ancient," Paul replied. "I found it while exploring some underground catacombs in Turkey. The city they once belonged to has been abandoned for so long, there's barely enough left for archaeologists to dig up."

"Then how did you get a hold of it?" Charlie asked, eyeing him skeptically.

"Magic, of course," he said. "It took an effort, but there are ways to recover many things that are lost." He continued to speak directly to John. "I can understand a level of concern. I had suspicions too when I first found it. However, I have been able to verify the authenticity of the scroll, and the language and symbols on it are consistent with thousands of scrolls from the same era and region." He paused, took a few paces forward, the turned around and faced him again. "Ordinarily, I'd be happy to go through all the proof I have first, but this is not an ordinary situation. The fragility of the timeline is making the barrier quite unstable. If my calculations are correct, then we're currently within a very small window of time. The barrier is only a few anachronisms away from becoming fully open. And that would mean Tabitha wins."

"I know perfectly well what it means, mate," John replied, looking up from the scroll. "I just don't like working on spells I don't know. I'm willing to dabble in almost anything, but there are still a few forces out there I'd prefer to leave alone."

"I understand," Paul said with a nod. He sighed and looked away before adding, "I just wish I could make it clearer to you how important this is. Do you have any idea how dangerous Tabitha could become if she gained access to extradimensional power? I've studied the topic intensely and believe me, it's not good." For the first time in a while, he looked directly at Charlie. "You remember what Tabitha did to you, don't you?"

Charlie stiffened. Reliving the memory of being under Tabitha's control made her feel sick. "Yes," she replied curtly.

"She framed you and humiliated you," Paul elaborated. "She forced you to hurt people against your will and made the world see you as a monster. And not just you, either. All of your fellow Legends suffered in some way because of Tabitha and Neron. You've been to Mallus's dimension. Surely you can guess what Tabitha could do if set loose there."

Charlie hesitated. "I…I can." She turned to John. "He's right," she said reluctantly. "If Tabitha's trying to break open that barrier, we can't let her in."

John raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure, love?"

"No," Charlie replied, "but it's not a chance I want to take."

John nodded solemnly. "Charlie, I know why this is personal to you…"

"It might be personal," Charlie quickly said, cutting him off, "but that doesn't mean it's just about me. She's dangerous."

He gave her a sympathetic look. "I know." He handed the scroll to Paul and rolled up the sleeves of his trench coat. "Right then. We can give it a shot. But the moment things start looking off, I'm out. Got that, mate?"

"Of course," Paul said with a smile. "You're a smart man, Constantine. I would expect nothing else."

Nora, still pinned against the glass, watched the scene unfold in horror. "No!" she shouted, finally breaking herself out of Tabitha's invisible grip and dropping to the ground. "Stop! Don't trust him!"

Tabitha jumped in surprise. "I suppose you're stronger than I anticipated. Good for you, deary. Unfortunately, that means it's time to go." She recited a spell and waved her hands in a circle. A symbol appeared under Nora's feet.

"No, wait!" Nora exclaimed. "John!"

She felt a jolt and, before she knew what was happening, she was back on the Waverider.


	29. Garima

**A/N: Thanks for your patience on this one! I tried to break this chapter up, but I ended up just writing it really long, so it took a while. I know I'm taking a few liberties with the structure of all the rooms and sections inside the Library of Congress for the sake of the action, but hey, maybe it looked a little different in 1950. It's possible, right? Anyway, this chapter has a _lot_ going on, so I hope you like it!**

* * *

Sara and Ava hurried through the Time Bureau's corridors. Ava tried to at least look a little bit dignified as she walked briskly past her employees and peers. Sara, on the other hand, did not care at all how she looked and sprinted directly into Ava's office.

She was surprised to see Gary inside. He waved at her. "Hi, Captain Lance," he greeted cheerfully. "I was just delivering some reports to Director Sharpe. How was your…" He paused and winked suggestively. "…_lunch break_?"

"Oh, shut up, Gary," Sara said dismissively as she ran behind the desk and began pressing buttons on Ava's computer.

Ava burst into the room soon after, waved silently to Gary, then joined Sara behind the desk. "Can you get a signal?" she asked.

"I'm trying. Just a second…yes!" She turned to Ava. "It's calling 1950. That's when the tour guide said it happened."

"Yikes," Ava said, folding her arms. "I wonder what the Legends did this time."

"We'll find out in a second." Sara and Ava stared silently at the monitor, waiting for the Waverider to pick up. Out of curiosity, Gary joined them.

"Should they be answering?" Gary asked after a few moments. "I don't see anything."

"Shh," Ava said. "Not now, Gary."

Sara waited a moment, then replied, "No, he has a point."

Gary grinned excitedly at the rare instance of praise. "I do?"

"They should be picking up," Sara explained. "Someone should be on the Waverider and able to hear the call. If they're not answering, then something has probably already gone wrong."

Gary raised his hand eagerly. "Ooh! Do you want to go to the ship? I just got this new time courier…"

"We all got new time couriers, Gary," Ava reminded.

"Well, yeah, but I like finding reasons to use mine. It has so many new buttons."

"I don't care whose time courier we use," Sara said, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Somebody just needs to get me onto the Waverider."

"Done!" Gary exclaimed. He entered the coordinates into the device on his wrist and a rectangular portal to the Waverider's bridge opened up. The three of them stepped through and let it close behind them.

"It seems pretty quiet," Ava observed.

She soon realized that she had spoken too soon. They heard a shout coming from the direction of the library. After exchanging concerned glances, they all ran toward it. Sara opened the library door and rushed into the room, followed by Ava and Gary. She saw Nora sitting in the middle of the remains of a spell, a horrified look on her face.

"Nora," Sara said worriedly, "what's going on?"

Nora looked up and turned her head to face the trio who had just arrived. "Captain Lance," she said as she stood up and walked toward her, "you have to stop John. He just made a big mistake."

"What?" Ava reacted.

"Oh no," Gary said. "Is John okay?"

Nora's words poured out rapidly as she tried to explain. "I found Tabitha and she's trapped where she can't get out, except with the right magic she can, and John found this guy who's telling him that he's trying to help, but he's actually lying, so John's about to help him break Tabitha out without knowing it, and I tried to stop him, but…"

Sara placed a hand on Nora's shoulder. "Okay, whoa," she said calmly. "Breathe. Just breathe, okay?" Once Nora had relaxed a little, Sara asked, "Does this have anything to do with Ray, or is John still in Heyworld?"

Nora's eyes widened. "What do mean? Is Ray in trouble too?"

"He hasn't called you?"

"No." Nora shook her head. "What's going on? Does he need help? Is he hurt? Are you guys getting along now?" She pointed at Sara and Ava, then put her hands down. "You know what? Don't answer that. It doesn't matter right now. Where's Ray?"

"If news reports are accurate," Ava answered, "being interrogated by the FBI at the Library of Congress."

"Don't worry about Ray," Sara said before Nora could open her mouth again. "We'll save him. What you need to do is stop John from doing…whatever you just said he was doing."

"But I can't just abandon Ray," Nora protested.

"You won't," Sara assured her. "We've got it covered. You're the only other magician we've got, so if John's doing something stupid, you're the only one who could potentially counter it."

Gary raised his hand awkwardly. "And I could help." He noted the strange looks the three women were giving him and explained, "What? John taught me a couple things."

Nora hesitated. "I don't know if I'd say…"

"I was an intern of the dark arts, remember?" Gary pointed out. "You don't get a title like that without working for it."

Sara placed her hands on her hips and stepped forward, taking charge of the situation. "Fine. Gary, take Nora to find John. Director Sharpe and I will get Ray out of trouble." She noticed a funny smile on Gary's face and added, "As colleagues."

Gary's smile faded. "Whatever you say, Captain Lance." He began adjusting the coordinates on his time courier. "Okay, bestie, where are we going?" Nora was, for once, too concerned about the situation to address the "bestie" comment. She simply dragged him out of the room and into the hallway, gave him quick instructions about John's location, and then joined him in stepping through a portal to Heyworld.

"I keep forgetting they're friends now," Ava commented. "Weird."

"Very." Sara nodded, then immediately went back to business. "Okay, Director Sharpe, I've got an idea that should be able to get Ray out of this, but I'll need you to come with me."

Ava raised an eyebrow. "Me? Why?"

"Because you are a tough, no-nonsense government official who acts like she sleeps in a suit," she answered with an extra hint of snark in her voice, "and that is exactly what I need to save Ray." She spun around and walked quickly out of the room. "Follow me, Director."

Ava frowned and hesitated for a second. "I don't…I don't sleep in a suit." Sara kept walking. Ava rolled her eyes and finally followed her.

* * *

Nate peered around a corner, then pulled his head back behind the wall where Zari and Mona were standing beside him. "The coast is clear," he whispered. "The security office is just down the hall."

"Good," Zari said with a nod. "Everybody stick to the script, okay?"

"Are you sure this will work?" Mona asked.

"It's the best option we've got," Zari replied.

"I still think it would be cool if I steeled up and took the place of one of the statues," Nate argued. "You could position me somewhere nearby. Then, when one of the agents walks past me, I could jump him with my super strength while either you or Mona steal his keys, weapons, and badge. You guys could take those into the office and use them to take down the remaining agent, freeing Ray. Then, we could flash everyone's memories and bolt out of there before anyone realizes anything happened."

"Babe," Zari deadpanned, "do you see any steel statues?"

"No," he said reluctantly.

"Exactly. We're not doing that." Zari stuck her head around the corner to double check that the area was clear, then ducked back behind it and whispered, "Go."

Nate straightened up and strolled casually into the hallway. Mona waited a moment, then followed him. Zari remained hidden just out of sight. "Ready?" Mona whispered once she'd caught up to him.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "I just hope Lin-Manuel Miranda forgives me." The two of them stepped aside to put a few feet between them and the door. Nate took a deep breath, then said very loudly, "Don't be ridiculous! Alexander Hamilton wasn't the greatest writer of the Founding Fathers!"

Mona shouted back at an equal volume, "Of course he is! Haven't you read the Federalist Papers?"

"Of course I have!" Nate exclaimed, even louder this time. "I'm a historian!"

"Hamilton wrote fifty-one essays!" Mona replied, pretending to get angry. "Fifty-one!"

"That doesn't make him the greatest writer! Nobody remembers who he is! Jefferson is much better known for his writings!"

"Jefferson!"

Inside the security office, Ray shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you this," he said, still smiling innocently, "but I'm not here to spy on anybody for anybody else. I'm just a normal library patron who took a wrong a turn."

"Why was that book so important?" the first agent asked, not caring much about his claims.

"It's…it's a good book. A classic."

"Then what's it's title, Mr. Potter?"

"Um…" _What's a book they'd definitely have?_ Ray thought. Something normal for someone to check out. "I think it was…_The Great Gatsby_."

The agent crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Ray skeptically. "_The Great Gatsby_? You broke into the Library of Congress records room to find a novel that's been in print for years and is available in most public library systems?"

"Uh…yes?" he said, the uncertainty in his voice almost squeaking. _Yikes. That was too normal. Come on, Ray, get it together._

The second agent stepped closer to the table. "Let's try this again," he said. "What were you looking for, and why do you need it?"

Ray closed his eyes and tried to think of an excuse, any excuse. To his surprise, he heard shouting coming from outside the door. The two FBI agents heard it too. It grew louder and louder. At first, they tried to ignore it, but it soon became too distracting. The first agent leaned over and said to the other one, "Why don't you see what's going on out there? I'll handle this guy."

The second agent nodded and walked out of the room. Stepping outside the door, he saw Nate and Mona bickering a short distance away.

"No!" Mona shouted. "Hamilton could have easily become the fourth president if he hadn't died during Jefferson's presidency!"

"Absolutely not!" Nate shouted back.

"And you call yourself a historian!"

The FBI agent approached them cautiously. "Excuse me," he said authoritatively, though at a much lower volume than Nate and Mona's fighting. "Could you two quiet down?"

"Not until this man admits that his research on the Founding Fathers is flawed!" Mona exclaimed, gesturing at Nate with fake rage.

"Never!" Nate cried. "You're the one with flawed research!"

Mona gasped dramatically and acted as if she'd been personally insulted. "How dare you, sir!"

"Sir, miss," the agent said calmly. "If you can't calm down, I will have to ask you to leave the premises."

"Oh yeah?" Nate said antagonistically, still speaking loudly. "Do you have a problem with us? What's your problem?"

"Yeah," Mona echoed. "What's your problem?"

The FBI agent continued attempting to deescalate the situation. Nate and Mona behaved as uncooperatively as possible and, finally, there was no choice left but for him to forcefully escort them out of the building. Once they were out of sight, Zari made her move. She rounded the corner and opened the door to the security office, where she saw Ray alone with the other agent.

The agent turned around as he heard the door open and shut. Ray straightened up in surprise and confusion. "Excuse me, miss," the agent said to Zari. "This is a private matter. Do you need something?"

Zari thought fast. "Uh…yes. Yes, I do." She walked toward him and declared confidently, "I'm a reporter with the Washington Post. I've got a story brewing about innovations in security in our nation's capital." She pretended to look around for someone, then took one more step closer to the agent. "Is Joe here? I should be interviewing him today."

The agent frowned. "Joe? Joe who?"

"Oh, you know…Joe…" She made eye contact with Ray, then took one more step toward the agent, discreetly clutching the memory flasher hidden inside her jacket with one hand. "…Joe…oh, whatever." She clenched her fist and set a gust of wind at him. It wasn't enough to knock him over, but it was enough to throw him off his balance and make him stumble backward. Zari whipped out the memory flasher and hit him with it, then shot out another wind blast, and finally flashed the blinding light. That was enough to make him fall, eyes shut and discombobulated. While he was still recovering, Zari turned to Ray. "Run! Before he remembers!"

Ray jumped up from his seat. "Yes! I knew I could count on you guys!" He ran around the table and quickly picked up the green box containing his suit that the agent had dropped on the floor in his struggle. "I'll take that."

Zari was already halfway to the door. She opened it and waved at him. "Ray, come on!"

"Coming!" Ray ran after her. Zari closed the door silently behind him and held a finger to her lips, signaling to keep his voice down. "Where's Nate?" he whispered.

"He and Mona had to distract the other agent," she explained. "They staged a fight about U.S. history to get him to kick them out."

"Nice." Ray glanced at the box in his hands and put it in his pocket. "We need to move fast," he warned quietly. "That security guard from earlier went to the records room to see what was missing. He's going to figure out we're looking for Brigid's Diary."

Zari's eyes widened. She grasped Ray's arm. "Dude, I just sent Mick and Snart to the special collections wing to look for it."

"Then we'd better find them before he does," Ray said. "And the book, too."

The two of them hurried away as quietly and swiftly as possible.

* * *

"So, you don't know exactly where John is?" Gary asked Nora, as he adjusted the setting on his time courier in the middle of the Waverider's hallway. "You didn't see anything like a landmark, or a…"

"No," Nora answered. "I didn't. I just know they're in Heyworld. It looked like some kind of basement."

"Basement…" Gary stroked his chin in thought. "Hm…basement…"

Nora rolled her eyes. "That's not a big clue, Gary. Tons of buildings have basements!" She paused and took a deep breath, then let it out. "Sorry, that was unnecessary. I'm just stressed about Ray. But seriously, how much does a basement in Heyworld narrow it down?"

"Well," Gary suggested, "if we had to, we could search through the Time Bureau records and see how many buildings in Heyworld were built with basements."

Nora's eyes widened as she had a realization. "Wait! Gary! That's it!"

"Heyworld basements?" Gary asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Even I think that's a long shot."

"No, not basements," Nora explained. "I saw the man they're talking to. They called him by his first name. It's Paul. We could go off of his description and first name to find him. All we need to do is find the right general area because I'd be able to sense his dark magic if I get close enough."

Gary grinned. "That's my brilliant bestie."

Nora took a step back awkwardly. "Uh…thanks? But we're not really…oh, never mind."

The two of them ran to the bridge. "Gideon," Nora asked as they arrived, "we're looking for a man named Paul with long, brown hair, light skin, probably around six foot. He lives in Heyworld. Are there any identity records that match that? Or news articles? Social media? Anything?"

Gideon searched for a moment, then displayed an image on the front screen that looked exactly like the man Nora had seen. "I have located one match to your description, Miss Darhk. His full name is Paul Christian, present-day residency listed as Heyworld."

"That's him, all right," Nora confirmed. "Do you have an address, Gideon?" In response, the AI displayed a street address on the screen next to the picture. Nora turned to Gary. "Copy that into your time courier."

"Already doing it," Gary said, adjusting the numbers on its surface. He looked up. "All set. Ready?"

"Yeah," Nora said with a nod. "I just hope we're not too late."

* * *

Charlie stood away from the two warlocks, leaning her back against the wall and watching them carefully. John and Paul had drawn out a massive pattern on the ground, then written smaller ancient symbols all around it. At the center of the pattern law the scroll. There were also multiple candles, vials of strange substances, and several odd-looking hand motions involved. Charlie only understood about half of what they were doing as they prepared, but finally, it seemed they were ready to begin the spell.

"One last thing," Paul said as John took his position on the outer rim of the design they'd drawn. He stepped away and picked up the crystal ball that had been sitting in the nearest corner of the room. Then, he set it down beside the scrolls, adjusting them both so that they were equally centered.

"I don't recall reading that part of the spell," John said warily as he looked at the ball.

"It was a very brief mention," Paul explained. "I've read that scroll top to bottom a hundred times. This is how it's meant to go. Trust me." He sighed. "Unless, of course, you'd like to take extra time to examine it. Time that Tabitha gets, and we don't."

John looked uneasily at Charlie. Charlie held eye contact for a moment, communicating with him silently. He shrugged his shoulders and dismissed his concerns. "All right. Let's get this started, then."

They lit each of the candles, then stood on the edges of the design on the floor. Then, they each took one step toward the center, reached out to join hands, and closed their eyes. They began chanting the spell, first softly, then louder. The symbols they'd drawn began to take on an eerie green glow. Charlie watched with intrigued curiosity.

A rectangular portal opened next to her and out stepped Nora and Gary. Charlie waved at them. "Hey, mates. What are you doing here?"

Nora pointed at John. "Trying to prevent this." She ran forward, shouting, "John! Stop!"

John heard Nora's voice in his ears, distracting him from reciting his incantation. "Nora?" he said, fighting the urge to open his eyes.

"Almost there now," Paul whispered. "One more sentence left. Don't make us start over."

Gary followed Nora and also shouted. "John, wait! Listen to her!"

"Stop!" Nora shouted again, reaching the edge of the drawing on the floor.

John forced himself out of his trance and opened his eyes. He turned his head to face Nora, though he hands remained joined with Paul's. "Why? What's going on?"

Nora pointed at Paul. "He's working with Tabitha. You have to stop."

Charlie gasped and straightened up. "What?" she said incredulously, walking toward Gary and Nora. "Working with that villain?"

John noted the earnestness on Nora's face and knew she was serious. He moved as if to pull himself out of the spell, but Paul suddenly jerked him inward and gripped him even tighter. A green glowing coil rose from the symbols on the ground and wrapped itself around John's legs, holding him in place. Two more shot up and tied his hands to Paul so that he could not escape. As he struggled, Paul quickly recited the final sentence of the spell.

"No!" Nora shouted, jumping toward the center.

"Let go, you bloody lunatic!" John said, trying to shake himself free.

As the final syllable left Paul's lips, a shining light appeared in the area surrounding the crystal ball and the scroll. John's restraints vanished, but the light expanded before he could step out of it. It engulfed the pattern drawn, those standing inside it, and even Gary and Charlie, who were now standing along its borders. There was something like crashing thunder and a second light, this time with a green tint, began shining out of the crystal ball. All but Paul shielded their eyes from the blinding brightness of it. Nora felt a sharp pain in her head and collapsed to the ground.

"Mallus!" she exclaimed in horror. "It feels like Mallus!"

Exactly what happened next, none of them were completely certain. It felt like a massive explosion of some kind. They heard the crystal ball shatter as something powerful ripped through the room. When they were finally able to open their eyes, they found themselves in a place that looked nothing like their previous surroundings. There was no sign of Paul's basement. The ground was sandy and white, but everything else seemed strangely blue. There wasn't even a sun sending golden rays down on them. Just a strange, empty, cold blue.

Nora didn't need to open her eyes to know where they were. She forced herself to her feet and glared at Paul. "We're in the dark dimension," she told him furiously. "You reopened Mallus's realm."

Paul smiled smugly, not looking nearly as genuine and friendly as he had seemed before. "Why, yes, it seems I have."

"As have I," Tabitha's voice said as she materialized in front of them, sharing Paul's smug look. "I do love a bit of dark magic. Powerful, isn't it?"

Charlie stepped closer to her friends and looked around frantically. "This is it, all right. No better the second go around."

John stomped forward toward Paul, fuming. "I'll teach you to lie to me, you little…ah!" A green glowing blast of energy hit him, throwing him back. Gary rushed forward and caught him.

"W-what's going on?" Gary asked, mostly to John.

Paul stood there with his arms outstretched to the sides, green flames burning in each palm. "I wouldn't make another move, if I were you," he warned. "I may have undersold my own strength. Not that I didn't need you, John," he clarified with a mischievous look. "I could never have pulled this off without you."

"Oh yeah?" Nora said, stepping forward. "Big mistake. Do you know how many times Mallus brought my soul here? Too many. I know the rules of this place, and I'm not about to let you…" She stopped to gasp as a ring formed in the sand around her and her friends. The ring turned black and they all felt chills. Nora sensed Paul's magic weakening her as she spoke, trapping her and the others inside the ring. "Stop…just…you can't…"

Paul turned to Tabitha. "Shall I finish them?"

"Hm…" Tabitha gave the idea some thought. "Tempting, deary, but we may need them alive due to that matter we spoke of. Of course," she said with a smirk, "we could always have a bit of fun with them."

Paul nodded eagerly and stretched his hands out toward the group in the ring. Green flames began to jump up from the surface of the white, sandy ground. Nora thought quickly and shouted, "Guys, hold onto me!" Too confused to protest, John, Gary, and Charlie obeyed her. As Paul began an incantation against them, Nora rapidly recited a very short spell and they vanished from the realm.

They found themselves back in Paul's basement, with no sign of Paul or Tabitha. Nora fell to the ground, exhausted. John ran to her. "You all right, love?"

"Yeah," she breathed, sitting up. "Paul was draining my power as long as I was in that circle. It took a lot to break us out, but I'll be okay."

Charlie clenched her fists and kicked over the nearest wooden box. "Bloody Tabitha!" she yelled. "Can't she ever learn to stay dead?" She turned around to see the other three staring at her. "What?" she asked angrily. "Don't tell me you're all sunshine and rainbows about this."

"I, for one, am not," Gary replied. "Director Sharpe is not going to like hearing about this."

"That's the least of our problems, mate," John said, shaking his head. "The force of reopening the dark dimension was enough to set Tabitha free within that realm. She's still not as powerful as she was, but she's a lot closer to it."

"And what are we supposed to do about that?" Charlie demanded.

Nora, John, and Gary exchanged worried glances. "I…I don't know," Nora said, speaking for all of them.

* * *

Leonard snuck silently through the special collections wing, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that looked like a rift. He had walked to the opposite end from where he had left Mick, and in such a large wing, that seemed like enough distance to let Mick cool off. As he searched, he tried to shove any and all reminders of Mick's little revelation to the far back of his mind. He knew he had no right to be jealous, and even if he was going to be jealous of someone, it would make much more sense to be Ava than Constantine. However, that didn't mean he enjoyed thinking about the single weirdest man he had ever met being with the person who he knew he was – though he didn't dare say it aloud to anyone else – in love with. He forced himself to focus on the mission. _The sooner I find that rift_, he reminded himself, _the sooner we can get out of here_.

The sound of a creaking door caught Leonard's attention. He spun around and saw a man entering the room through the nearest entrance. He immediately recognized him as the security guard from earlier. Leonard backed into the shadows along the edge of the room, then slipped silently behind a tall display case. The guard walked slowly through the exhibits, looking carefully at every potential hiding spot. As he got closer, Leonard crouched down and quietly hid himself behind another bookcase where he remained unseen. As the guard passed by, Leonard noticed something in his hands: a very old-looking book covered in Celtic symbols. _That must be Brigid's Diary_, he realized.

Leonard watched the security guard closely as he moved around the room. The two of them were alone. Mick was somewhere in the same wing, but much too far away to be seen from here. It was only a matter of time before the guard got comfortable enough in the empty space to slip up and set the book down somewhere. _Better yet_, Leonard thought, _I could give him a reason to drop it_.

Leonard crept along the side of the room until he was far enough away to make a believable entrance. He pulled his cold gun out from under his coat and held it behind his back. If he'd had more time, he may have considered a more elaborate plan, but it looked like the direct approach was the best option for now. _Besides_, he thought, _it's been way too long since I last robbed somebody_.

He stepped out into the open and cleared his throat to get the guard's attention. "Excuse me," Leonard said in a very fake innocent tone. "That book you're holding…it looks like something I'm searching for. Mind if I take a look?"

The guard looked at him curiously but recognized him after only a brief moment of confusion. "It's you," he said, his hand reaching for the gun holstered on his belt. "You tried to get that guy past me earlier."

Leonard smirked and held up his free hand. "Now, now, no need to panic. I'm not after your life. Just that book."

"Why?" the guard demanded, his hand still resting over his gun. "What's in it? Secrets you want to send your friends in Moscow?"

"And why would you think I'd do that? Do I look like a spy to you?"

"I don't care what you look like," the guard replied. "We're on to you. You work for the Soviet government."

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Oy, this again."

The guard finally decided to draw his gun. As quickly as he did, Leonard had his weapon in position first. The two men stood facing each other, staring each other down as they kept their weapons pointed at each other. "I'd put that away if I were you," Leonard warned calmly.

"If you make one move," the guard replied much less calmly, "this place will be crawling with FBI agents, more guards, and every police officer in downtown DC. Word's been sent to the rest of the guards in this building, and they should be surrounding this wing any second. Not to mention the FBI agents who are already here. They're downstairs interrogating your inventor friend, Harry Potter."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Harry Potter? Seriously?" The guard said nothing. Leonard shook his head and muttered, "Typical." He took a step closer to the guard, still pointing his cold gun at him. "Listen, we both know you don't really want to kill me. If you did, you'd have already done it. And that works out well because, on the off chance that your grandkids might do something nice for the world, I don't really want to kill you either." Leonard took another step forward, still staring him down intimidatingly. "So let's make this easy for both of us. You hand me the book. I leave. Nobody gets shot. Deal?"

The guard hesitated, then narrowed his eyes at Leonard with more resolve. "No! You're not stealing from the Library of Congress on behalf of the Russians on my watch. I'll give you to the count of three to put your weapon down and surrender, or I _will_ fire."

"Oh, will you?" Leonard drawled sarcastically.

"One…two…"

"For the record," Leonard said, still unphased by the countdown, "I did give you a way out of this."

"Three!"

Leonard fired his cold gun an instant before he finished saying the word "three." The resulting cold blast froze the gun in the guard's hand. As the ice spread across the weapon, the guard stared at it in horror, then dropped it just before his hand could freeze with it. The gun fell to the ground and shattered into a million frozen pieces. The guard was so shocked, he stumbled and fell backward, dropping the book in the process.

Leonard stepped over the icy remains of the gun and picked Brigid's Diary up from the floor. "Lucky for you," he said to the guard still in shock below him, "I'm a very precise shot." He looked over the ornate cover. "You've got guts, I'll give you that. Unfortunately, I still can't have you following me. Nothing personal." He hit the guard in the head with the handle of his cold gun, knocking him unconscious before turning and running around the corner, intending to find Mick and deliver his missing book.

* * *

Zari and Ray ran up the stairs toward the special collections wing. Just before they reached the top floor, they heard footsteps. Many loud footsteps. Ray craned his neck up to see three men in security guards' uniforms running past the staircase's exit just above them. They were too focused on their target to notice the two Legends, but one of them soon backtracked to block the staircase. Zari and Ray backed down to the first floor to stay out of view. "That's not good," Ray whispered. "Do you think they found Snart and Mick?"

"Maybe," Zari replied. "Either way, they're heading directly toward the nearest entrance to the wing we need." She turned around and looked for more options. "We have to find another way up if we want to get to them in time."

"There's another staircase on the other side," Ray pointed out. "We could try running up that way. Or maybe try the elevator. They have an elevator, right?"

"If there's a guard here," Zari said, "there'll be a guard at every entrance to that floor. They want to seal off the exits so Snart and Mick can't get out."

"Hm…" Ray thought hard. "There has to be a way we can get up there. Maybe if we go down to the ground floor…" He peered up at the top of the staircase and quickly ducked back, pulling Zari a few steps farther from the stairs until they were hiding behind a conveniently placed corner. "I saw another guard coming down this way," he explained. "They're not just locking down that floor. They're locking down the whole library."

Zari groaned. "Well, I guess that's a classic Legends mission for you. Come on!" She grabbed his arm and the two of them started walking away as quickly as they could without seeming obvious to the many security guards now entering the building. She and Ray froze as they recognized a familiar face coming toward them: the other FBI agent. "Crap," Zari whispered. "I thought he went outside."

"He must've escorted Nate and Mona out and then came back in," Ray realized. "We need to hide before he sees us."

The two Legends looked around. The nearest room was the same reading room they had entered earlier. Now, the doors were shut, locked, and guarded by other security guards. There were other rooms for various exhibits, but they too were locked down. Starting to feel desperate, Ray looked toward the side of the hallway and saw what looked like a storage closet. "In there, Z!"

They reached the door and tried the knob, but it was locked. Ray unrolled his sleeves to try his shrink ray on the bolt. Zari leaned back and glanced in the agent's direction. "He's almost here, Ray."

"Almost…got it…just…"

"He's going to see us."

Ray shot a tiny beam through the crack in the door, then turned the doorknob with ease. "Yes!"

Before he could spend much time celebrating, Zari pushed him inside with her, then shut the door behind them just as the FBI agent approached. The storage closet was stuffed with brooms, mops, and other maintenance supplies to the point that they could barely move without knocking something over. They braced themselves against the door and waited for the agent's footsteps to pass. He stopped right in front of the door.

"Are all exits locked down?" they heard his voice ask.

"Yes, sir," another man's voice answered. They guessed it was another security guard.

"Good. Those spies found a way to erase my partner's memory. He has no idea what's happening. Send someone down there to make sure they didn't do anything else to him."

"Of course. We think we have two of them cornered in special collections."

"Thank you. I'll be right up."

Zari and Ray finally heard the two pairs of footsteps leave and let out sighs of relief. "Whew," Ray breathed, still not daring to make too much noise. "That was close."

"Sure was," Zari agreed. She moved as if to reopen the door but stopped when she noticed something strange. "Hey, Ray?"

"What?"

"There's no light on in here, is there?"

Ray looked up at the ceiling. "Nope."

Zari pointed forward at the opposite wall of the cramped space. "Then why does that janitor's cart look like it's glowing?"

Ray looked across the closet at the janitor's cart. It did indeed look like it was glowing. Specifically, it was a gold-tinted glow that looked very familiar. He stepped forward and pulled the cart to the side of the closet. There, resting just over the back wall of the storage closet, was a swirling, sparkling golden oval of temporal energy. It was the rift. Ray grinned at Zari. "Good eye, Z."

"Thanks," Zari said. "Let's shut it down before we all get arrested."

Ray nodded obediently and took the miniaturized temporal energy gun out of his pocket. He pressed a tiny button and it expanded to its usual size. "Stand back," he warned. "There might be an impact from shooting it at such close range."

Zari glanced over her shoulder at the door. "I can't exactly move any farther back."

"Then just be ready," Ray warned. "One, two, three!" He shot directly into the center of the rift.

Ray was correct to anticipate an impact. The force of the rift's destruction filled the tiny room and blew the door off its hinges, sending it flying back several feet. Ray and Zari were also thrown back, landing on the floor of the hallway as the door crashed against the nearest wall. They caught their breath and sat up. "We did it!" Ray exclaimed, pumping his fist victoriously. "We closed the rift!"

Zari began to say something celebratory, but she cut herself off as the two of them were suddenly surrounded by security guards. "Try telling them that," she said as she and Ray slowly held up their hands.

* * *

Mick paced back and forth through his side of the special collections wing. Everything seemed pretty quiet and he hadn't seen any sign of Brigid's Diary. He was beginning to consider giving up and looking somewhere else. That was when he heard a loud voice shout, "Freeze! FBI! Hands up!"

He turned around to see a man in a suit holding up an FBI badge in one hand and a gun in the other. Mick raised his eyebrows but didn't put his hands up. "Oh," he said. "This is awkward."

"Put your hands up," the agent repeated. "This wing is surrounded, and your friends aren't getting out of the building either. The best option for you now is to cooperate."

"Cooperate?" Mick repeated with a mocking chuckle. "Not really what I do." He drew his heat gun and sent a blast of flame into the air. It didn't hit the agent, but it distracted him long enough for Mick to take off running, knocking over a couple of smaller bookcases on the way to block the agent from easily pursuing him. He fired behind him again to ensure no one was following him, then sprinted across the wing until he saw Leonard coming from the opposite direction. He waved his arms as a warning. "Snart! Not this way!"

Leonard stopped in place. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"There's an FBI guy," Mick explained quickly, "and he's got the door locked down and surrounded." His eyes centered on the ancient-looking book in his partner's hands. "Is that…?"

"Yeah." Leonard glanced over his shoulder, then back at Mick. "I ran into a security guard back there. I knocked him out and shattered his gun, but he could wake up if we take too long."

"Why'd you leave him there, then?" Mick asked frustratedly, pointing his thumb back in the direction of the FBI agent. "We've already got one problem chasing us! I thought you were the one all obsessed with thinking things through!"

"Well, forgive me for trying to get your magic book girlfriend back to you as soon as possible," Leonard replied dryly. "Next time, I'll wait around a while first. You're clearly handling everything so much better." He gestured in the direction of the agent, who was in the process of climbing over one of the fallen bookcases.

"Oh, why don't you just…" Before Mick could finish, he froze, hearing the running footsteps of the FBI agent behind them. He looked back, then at Leonard. "We've got to go."

"You're telling me," Leonard replied, looking past Mick to see the agent now fully in view. He jumped out to the side and fired a blast from his cold gun just strong enough to throw the agent backward and onto the ground. Then, he grabbed Mick's arm and pulled him behind a bookshelf. The two of them exchanged mutually understood looks and began constructing a barricade of sorts, moving tables, chairs, bookshelves, display cases, and any other large items near them together, preventing the FBI agent or any other pursuers from coming within a few feet of them. They crouched down behind the barricade. A wall was to their back, but they were angled just enough to leave a gap behind them that was large enough to bolt through if necessary.

Leonard looked over the top of the sideways bookshelf that made up the bulk of the defensive structure and saw that the agent had brought in two more security guards as reinforcements. One of them saw him and fired a warning shot over his head. Leonard returned it with an icy one of his own, then ducked back down. "Well, this is just peachy," he muttered. He turned to Mick. "Think the Legends have destroyed that rift yet?"

Mick activated his comms. "Hey! Whoever's on here, pick up!" he barked. He nodded at Leonard. "It sounds clear. They must've found it."

Leonard snuck another glance over the edge of the bookshelf and saw that the security guards had now been joined by several police officers. "Nice to have some good news," he said as he backed down again.

"Hello!" Mick shouted again into his comms. "Anyone listening?"

Nate's voice came through loud and clear. "Mick? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Pretty!" Mick replied. "Where are you?"

"Outside with Mona."

"What?"

"We had to distract this guy so Zari could…you know what? It's a long story. I'll save it for later. Anyway, as soon as we got out here, they started locking it down, so we couldn't go back in. I just tried Ray's comms, but he didn't pick up. Where are you guys?"

"Tell him we could use some backup," Leonard said.

Mick complied without hesitation. "We need backup, Pretty. We're on the top floor surrounded by cops."

Mick heard Nate suck in his breath. "Ooh…that's not good. I don't know how I'll get past all these police out here, but I'll see what I can do." He hung up the call.

Mick sat quietly for a minute, then let out a low chuckle. Leonard raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny, partner?"

"Just never thought I'd be getting into a standoff with cops in a library," he replied. "Pretty much anywhere else, sure, but not here. Maybe we can throw books at them or something."

A tiny smirk crossed Leonard's face. "Well, you know what they say about the pen being mightier than the sword." He froze suddenly as a realization dawned on him. "Mick," he said firmly, "you can get us out of this."

Mick peered over the edge of the bookshelf, then quickly pulled his head back. "I don't think this is the best place to start a fire."

"Not with your gun. With this." Leonard held Brigid's Diary out to him. "I don't know how it works, but you do. If you can write yourself an alien girlfriend, I'm willing to bet you can write us a way out of this mess."

Mick took the book with a stunned expression on his face. "But…but my writing…it's not…you're not going to…I thought you said you wanted everything to go back to normal, Snart."

"Normal flew out the window the moment we boarded the Waverider," Leonard argued. "I don't need to know everything to know that you can use that book to help us. Come on, old friend. Write something. Anything."

Mick took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, calming himself down for a moment as he pulled a pen out of his pocket. "Okay, Snart. Just buy me a minute. I've got this."

Leonard nodded at him, then stood up to his full height and shot a much stronger blast from his cold gun, forming sharp icicles along the ceiling and sticking up from the floor. Two police officers shot at him, but he dodged one by ducking back behind the bookshelf. The other hit an icicle instead, causing it to crash to the ground. On the other side of the barricade, Leonard saw the security guard from before approaching from the opposite direction. He had no weapon and was clearly confused about what was going on, but Leonard didn't want to take any chances. He shot another few blasts onto the floor in front of the guard, creating a short wall of icy spikes in his way. Leonard crouched back down beside Mick. "Need any more time?"

"Nope," Mick replied, setting his pen down with a smirk. "Get ready."

"For what?"

Before Mick could answer, a very tall, purple-skinned woman materialized in front of them. She carried a giant sword and was dressed like something out of a science fiction or fantasy movie. Mick couldn't help feeling a little smug about the shocked look on Leonard's face. "Snart, meet Garima," he said. "Garima, this is Snart, my partner."

Garima grunted a sound that definitely wasn't an actual word. Leonard still looked shocked. "_That's_ Garima?" he finally asked once he regained the majority of his usual composure.

Mick grinned. "Told you she had three boobs."

Garima let out a loud war cry and leaped over the barricade in a single bound, swinging her sword aggressively at everyone and everything in her path. Leonard and Mick watched her from over the top of the bookshelf. "Don't worry," Mick assured. "I specifically wrote her to be bullet-proof."

"I can see that," Leonard said as the officers' bullets bounced off her purple body like pebbles. "What else did you write?"

"That she's not going to stop rampaging until we're all safely out of the library," Mick answered. "And that she won't actually kill anybody. It's annoying, but if I don't write that in, Sara will give me a really long lecture when we get back that's going to be even more annoying than writing that, so…yeah."

It only took a few minutes for Garima to either knock out or drive away every single guard and police officer in the room. The FBI agent was the last to leave, running out of the wing calling for backup. She stopped for a moment to look back at Leonard and Mick.

Mick nudged Leonard in the arm. "Coast is clear."

Leonard nodded in agreement. "Let's get out of here."

The two of them climbed over the barricade to where Garima was standing. Garima grunted something to Mick that, again, did not sound like a real word, then charged forward to burst through the door, swinging her sword to clear a path out of the special collections wing. Leonard and Mick ran close behind her, with Mick gripping Brigid's Diary tightly under his arm. As they ran, Mick told Leonard, "By the way, when I said 'until we're all safely out of the library'…"

"You meant all of us," Leonard finished for him. "I got that, partner. Time to find Raymond and Zari." All three of them bolted down the stairs to the next floor below, with Garima leading the way.


	30. Snart and Sharpe

Nate and Mona stood on the sidewalk across the street from the Library of Congress, watching the police line around it anxiously. "You think they're okay in there?" Mona asked.

"They're Legends," Nate answered. "They've gotten themselves out of worse situations before." He tried his comms again, this time calling Zari. "Hey, Z? Zari? Babe? You there?" He frowned and shook his head. "She's not picking up either."

"Maybe we should call Nora," Mona suggested.

"Maybe," Nate said. "Who we really need is Captain Lance. She knows how to handle even the craziest scenarios like an expert."

"Aw, that's sweet," said Sara's voice behind him.

Nate and Mona turned around and saw Sara and Ava standing together, both dressed in professional, era-appropriate business attire. "Captain Lance!" Mona exclaimed happily. "Thank goodness! We really need your help." She turned to Ava and tried to hide her surprise at seeing her. "Director Sharpe? Are…are you helping us too?"

"Apparently," Ava replied. "Seems like you need all the help you can get." She looked up at the enormous library building in front of them, then back at the Legends. "What happened?"

Nate spoke up first. "Mick couldn't find Brigid's Diary, so we deduced it had been sent to another time through one of the rifts. We tracked it to here and searched the library for it. But then, Ray got caught breaking into the library's records, which have restricted access, and the security guard who caught him saw his A.T.O.M. suit and didn't understand what it was, so he suspected him of being a spy from the U.S.S.R. From there, things just kind of started escalating…"

"Hold on," Sara said, holding up a hand to pause his story. "Ray got mistaken for a Soviet spy?"

"How does that even happen?" Ava asked.

"Well," Nate explained, "it's the early Cold War, so the U.S. government is super worried about Soviet infiltration. Ray was carrying tech that doesn't exist in the U.S. at this time period and was caught breaking into the records of a federal government institution without the right credentials. It looks a little suspicious."

Ava sighed. "Great. That's just great."

"What about the others?" Sara asked. "Are they all still inside?"

"Yeah," Nate replied. "Mick and Snart went off to look for the book while Zari, Mona, and I tried to break Ray out of the security office. Mona and I staged a fight so one of the FBI agents questioning Ray would escort us outside. Zari took out the other agent while we were gone, but she and Ray never came outside so I don't know what else went down."

"And what happened to Snart and Rory?" Sara asked anxiously.

"We don't know," Mona answered. "We couldn't go back in to help because the police started locking the doors. They must have been called over by security."

"Mick did call just a moment ago asking for backup," Nate added. "He didn't explain much, but it sounded like he and Snart were being cornered somewhere."

Sara shook her head worriedly. "That's not good. That's really not good."

"It is not," Ava agreed. "I thought I said to be _more_ careful on future missions."

"Hey, whoa," Sara said, taking a defensive stance. "They didn't have their captain. Go easy on them."

"Go easy?" Ava repeated with visible frustration. "Captain Lance, they got mistaken for Soviet spies, attacked at least one federal agent, and caused the world's biggest library and our country's most important literary institution to go into lockdown."

"Well," Sara said a little more quietly, "when you say it like that…"

"What other way is there to say it?" Ava asked.

Sara closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. "Okay, okay. It's pretty bad. But that's why we're here. We have a plan to get the Legends out of this, and when we're done, history will be fine."

"Hopefully," Ava said under her breath.

Nate stepped forward, intrigued. "Plan? What plan? What are you guys thinking?"

"You'll see," Sara replied. "Just stay out here and call me if you see anything that seems off. Director Sharpe," she said, turning to Ava, "let's save the rest of this crew." She led Ava up the sidewalk toward the Library of Congress.

* * *

"Aaargh!" Garima shouted as she ran through the library's hallways with seemingly no concerns about the people or objects in her path.

Leonard watched uneasily as she almost shattered a presidential bust and turned to Mick. "Couldn't you tell her to be a little more careful?"

"She's not written like that," Mick replied with a shrug.

"But _you_ wrote her."

"Can't change what's already on the page." He pointed at Garima, who had finally stopped running at the end of the hallway. She was repeatedly punching a very secure-looking door. "I think she found them."

"Finally," Leonard said as they ran to catch up with her.

Inside the security office, Zari and Ray were now both seated at the same table Ray had been at before. This time, they were only being addressed by the one FBI agent who still remembered who they were. "Okay," the agent said, clearly starting to run out of patience. "Let's start over. Tell me exactly what is going on here."

"N-nothing," Ray said nervously. "We just…accidentally blew up a supply closet. No big deal."

Zari rolled her eyes. "Ray, let me handle this." She looked up at the FBI agent confidently. "Listen, I know this looks fishy, but I promise you, we're not from the Soviet Union, and we're definitely not spies. In fact, the thing we're trying to do is something you'd probably want as well."

The agent seemed unconvinced. "Interesting. How do you figure that?"

"We want to prevent a powerful object from getting into the wrong hands," Zari answered. "We're looking for a book that's more powerful than you could possibly imagine. It's too dangerous to be in the possession of anyone besides us. We can't explain more without sounding crazy, but you have to understand that we're not a threat to national security. Quite the opposite, in fact. If we can keep that book with us and away from the public, then everyone in this country, and probably the world in general, will be safer. If we can't, then, frankly, you'll have way bigger problems to worry about than somebody tampering with library records."

The FBI agent nodded slowly, considering her words. "If that's true," he said, "then why are you only revealing it now? You could have come to us and explained yourselves from the beginning."

"Because the less information that's floating around in the world about this book," Zari explained, "the safer it is, and the easier it is for us to take it back without getting into trouble. Not that we really avoided it this time," she added with a tone of deadpan snark.

"You're saying that book is dangerous," the agent said, speaking mostly just to Zari now. "Why? What's in it that people can't know?"

"It's not like that," Zari clarified. "It's not the content of the book. It's what it can do."

"Do?" the agent repeated skeptically. "What do mean, 'what it can do'?"

The three of them heard a strange sound and looked at the security office's door, which suddenly turned into brittle ice, then was shattered by two giant purple fists. As the door's icy pieces fell to the ground, Garima stepped inside with Mick on one side of her and Leonard on the other. The agent looked back at Zari in shock. "That's what I mean by 'what it can do,'" Zari said.

"Hey, Garima!" Ray said, waving at the alien woman with a friendly smile.

Garima grunted in response, then started swinging her sword wildly around again. She didn't seem to be aiming for any specific people or objects, but it was enough to throw the whole room into chaos. The FBI agent hid under the table to get out of the way. Mick ran to Ray and pulled him out of the room. Zari ran after them with Leonard exiting last, pointing his cold gun behind them in case they were followed. The police officers and security guards shrank back from their positions as Garima charged through, finally bursting through to the outside. The group ran down to the middle level of the outside stairs, then, noting that Garima had scared away most of the people trying to stop them, paused to catch their breath.

"Whoo!" Ray said, high-fiving Zari. "We did it!"

Garima sheathed her sword and calmed down, then grunted at Mick and put her arm around his shoulders. Leonard tilted his head with a confused look. "So, she's just…done now?"

"Well, we're outside," Mick told him. "I said she'd go on a rampage until we got outside. Here we are."

Leonard stared at the two of them for a moment, then shook his head and said, "You definitely still have some explaining to do."

"Beer," said Garima.

Leonard blinked. "What?"

"It's the only word she says," Mick told him.

"Okay…make that a lot of explaining."

"Stop!" the group heard the FBI agent yell. They spun around and saw him running down the outside stairs after them, looking very frazzled and holding his gun up in front of him. "We're not finished!"

Leonard leaned sideways toward Mick. "You want to send your girlfriend on another rampage?"

"Sorry," Mick said. "I only wrote her to do that until she got outside. She's done now until I write something new."

"Then I guess we'll deal with this the old-fashioned way," Leonard muttered. He stepped forward in front of the others and pointed his cold gun at the FBI agent. "I disagree," he said. "I think we got what we came for, and now we're leaving. Try to follow us and things will get a lot colder for you."

The FBI agent didn't back down. "You people might not be spies," he said, "but you still lied to and attacked an agent of the federal government and damaged a lot of government property. You're not just going to walk away from that."

"Actually," Ava Sharpe said, reaching the middle level of the stairs just as he finished speaking, "that's exactly what they're going to do."

The Legends turned their heads to face her. Leonard lowered his gun. All of them were very surprised to see Ava, but Leonard was by far the most surprised. He'd had a feeling that he would eventually meet Ava in person, but he had not planned on it being right now. Sara followed just one step behind Ava. The two of them looked very serious and were displaying their most intimidating expressions. Sara winked briefly at the Legends, signaling them to say nothing.

The FBI agent stared at Ava in confusion. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing here?"

Ava flashed a badge at him in one quick, smooth motion, then walked up the steps toward him, her face stone cold. Sara remained beside the Legends, standing beside Leonard while maintaining the same stoic look at Ava. "Special Agent Sharpe from A.R.G.U.S., counterintelligence division," Ava said.

"I haven't heard of you," the agent countered, though he did holster his gun.

"You're not supposed to," Ava stated coolly. "Given the current state of affairs, President Truman has authorized a top-secret operation within A.R.G.U.S.'s organization to counter Soviet threats to the United States that stem from unconventional means. These fine people," she said, gesturing toward the Legends behind her, "are undercover agents working on a matter of extreme necessity and confidentiality."

The FBI agent hesitated. "They're with A.R.G.U.S.? Why didn't they identify themselves?"

"Due to the highly sensitive nature of their mission," Ava answered, "they could not do so without jeopardizing themselves and disobeying orders. Under Article 5.6a of A.R.G.U.S.'s charter, we have the right to authorize such a team without notifying other branches of law enforcement if doing so is a security risk. Furthermore, under Article 16.7b, A.R.G.U.S. agents with a top-secret classified mission have the authority to conduct that mission without identifying themselves unless otherwise ordered from a higher-ranking member of A.R.G.U.S." Ava crossed her arms and glared coldly at the FBI agent. "There was clearly some mishandling of this mission, and they will be reprimanded by the appropriate A.R.G.U.S. authority for that. But as for you, I have half a mind to report you to the head of A.R.G.U.S. under Article 1.8a and file a 52-B report about the disaster this mission turned into. Let my agents go without any further trouble, and I might reconsider."

The FBI agent took an uneasy sideways step away from her. "Oh…um…yes. Yes, of course. I wouldn't stand in the way of A.R.G.U.S. If there's anything I could do…"

"There isn't," Ava said, cutting him off. "Just call off everyone. We'll take it from here."

The terrified agent walked quickly back into the building and began notifying officers and guards to back off. Ava walked over to the Legends, her arms still crossed and her expression still less than pleased. "Well, this better be good," she said.

"Ava!" Ray exclaimed gleefully. "It's so nice to see you! Thanks for helping us out. We were in quite a pickle."

Ava's face softened very slightly. "Yeah, well, I'm just glad it worked. I totally made up most of that. I have no idea what the actual A.R.G.U.S. charter says."

"Which is precisely why we needed you, Director Sharpe," Sara said. "Only someone who can believably sell all that bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo could pull off making all that up _and_ getting that guy to buy it."

"Well, don't thank me yet," Ava said. "We still definitely need to talk about everything that just…Snart." She stopped talking suddenly as she noticed the one man in the group who she hadn't met before. She pointed at him. "That's you, right? Leonard Snart?"

Leonard hid his discomfort with Ava's presence under a mischievous smirk. "Always pleased to meet a fan, Director."

Ava stared at him, analyzing every detail of his appearance. "Wow," she said. "You really do look exactly like Leo."

Leonard looked at her quizzically. "Who?"

"Never mind." Ava turned away from him and addressed the whole group again. "I'm glad you guys got the anachronism and the rift taken care of, but there's still a big mess here. After I put in a call to the Time Bureau asking for a few agents to clean this up, I think we need to go over what happened. Is that acceptable to you, Captain?" She looked directly at Sara.

Sara sighed and slumped her shoulders. Things had been going so well with Ava earlier that day. Now, it seemed like they had returned almost to where they'd been before. Reluctantly, she gave in. "Yes, Director Sharpe." She stepped in front of the Legends and turned around to face them. "You heard her, Legends. We're going back to the ship. Come on!" She led them down the last section of stairs to the sidewalk.

Leonard moved to follow with the rest of the group, but he felt Ava's eyes on him. He stood still and turned to look at her. "What?" he asked.

Ava blinked a couple times to force herself to stop staring. "No, no…nothing. It's nothing. Go ahead." Leonard didn't believe her, but he shrugged it off and joined the others. Ava stood still on the steps for a moment, thinking. _Huh. So that's Leonard Snart. That's Sara's thief friend. Interesting._ She finally paused her thoughts and followed the rest of the group.

* * *

"Ray!" Nora exclaimed with relief as she saw her boyfriend enter the Waverider's bridge. She ran to him and gave him a tight hug. "Sara told me you were in trouble. I was so worried."

"Aw," Ray said sweetly, hugging her just as tightly. "Don't worry, Nora. Everything's okay. We all got out fine. Mostly because of Ava, actually." He let go of her and noticed that the concerned look on her face hadn't completely disappeared. "What's wrong? Did something happen to you?"

Nora hesitated, then explained, "Kind of. It's a long story, but Constantine might have…accidentally set Tabitha loose in Mallus's dimension."

Ray did a double take. "John did what?"

"In fairness," Nora pointed out, "he didn't know the guy he was helping was working for Tabitha. And lying to him. And being a general manipulative jerk."

"Oh." Ray nodded understandingly. "Hey, it happens to the best of us. The important thing is that everyone's okay. Um…everyone is okay, right?"

"Physically, yes," Nora answered. "Emotionally…"

They heard a loud crash that sounded like something being kicked over in Charlie's room. "I bloody hate that stupid witch!" Charlie's voice shouted loudly enough to be heard throughout the entire ship.

Nora pointed in the direction of the sound. "Emotionally, we're not doing too great."

"Yikes," Ray said, looking uneasily toward the corridor leading to Charlie's room. He returned his gaze to Nora and smiled. "Well, we do have some good news. We shut down the rift and got Mick's book back. History is saved!" He leaned in a little closer and added in a quieter voice, "Also, Ava's mad at us now because things got a little crazy."

"Yeah, she just called Gary out to deal with something and sounded pretty annoyed. How crazy are we talking?"

"Well, it started with a security guard mistaking the A.T.O.M. suit for a Soviet superweapon…and ended with Garima going on an extremely destructive rampage through the Library of Congress."

Now, it was Nora's turn to express concern. "Yikes," she said, echoing her boyfriend's word choice.

"Yeah," Ray said sheepishly. "We're having a team meeting about it in a minute." He paused and studied Nora's face for a moment. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm okay," she reassured him. "It's just one more failure to stop Tabitha." She crossed her arms and added sarcastically, "Maybe I should start keeping a list."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Ray said. He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We'll get her eventually. At least no one got hurt. Plus, now we know where she is. That's got to be a little helpful, right?"

Nora smiled. "Ray, you could put a positive spin on anything."

"It's one of my best talents," Ray replied cheerfully. "Don't worry, Nora. Things might go a little out of control with the Legends, but I'm sure everything's going to end up okay. We've gotten through all kinds of things together, and we're going to do it again. This is just a minor setback."

"I sure hope you're right," Nora said, feeling slightly better despite her lingering concerns.

* * *

Leonard sat in the Waverider's lab, leaning back in a chair. He picked up a small ball from where it had been sitting on Ray's desk and tossed it at the wall, then let it bounce back to him and tossed it again. On his third throw, he saw Mick enter the room and caught it in mid-air instead of throwing it again. "Hey," he said simply.

Mick closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then marched over to stand in front of Leonard. His partner watched him curiously as he stood silently for a moment until he finally spoke. "I don't stare at lighters anymore."

Leonard raised his eyebrows in surprise. He looked like he was about to say something, but Mick stopped him by speaking first. "What I mean is," he clarified, "I still like fire. I like how it looks. I like what it does. I just don't…you know…turn on a lighter just to watch it burn." He crossed his arms and looked down at the floor, trying to find the right words to explain himself. He finally looked back up at Leonard. "I met my dad, Snart. I went to Vietnam while he was there. I don't know how, but it just…changed things. It didn't make me like him or what he did. I don't think I ever will. It's just that…I didn't…I didn't realize how much I was still holding onto setting the fire that…well, you know what it did. Meeting him there was just…closure, I guess. And once I had that, I didn't need to stare at lighters anymore."

Mick watched Leonard's face closely, trying to discern his reaction. Leonard kept his face mostly neutral, but it was clear that he was listening intently. He said nothing. Mick took another deep breath to prepare himself, then continued, "I was a Revolutionary War hero, Snart. I saved George Washington. There's a statue of me now. I don't know where it is, but it's somewhere." He paused in thought briefly, then kept going. "I was a totem bearer. I got to wear a fancy necklace that gave me fire powers. I had a pet rat for a while. I found him trying to eat Haircut, named him AXL, and took care of him until he died. I started writing books under a fake name. It's a fun hobby, but it's…it's more than that. I started writing about romance. Feelings." He cringed even as he said the word. "I still don't like feelings. I don't like talking about them. But I can write about them now. And people like what I write. I have fans. Mona's my biggest one. She's a good friend, too." He hesitated for second before proceeding to his next statement. "I…I met another you from another Earth. He tried to get me to stop drinking. It didn't work. But he'd lost his me back on his Earth like I lost you, so that was good for both of us. Even though he was nothing like you."

He knew what he had to say next, but it was hard to say. He dropped his eyes to the floor, avoiding eye contact with Leonard. "When you…died…I didn't…I didn't take it well. I stayed with the team after we killed Savage. It's what I wanted. But I started…seeing you places. Places where you weren't. You were saying all kinds of stuff about how I should leave the team. The Professor said it was something called cogni…cognita…I don't know, but he had a word for it. I just thought I was going crazy." He forced himself to look up, but still didn't make direct eye contact. "Listening to that version of you…it wasn't good for me. I almost lost what I had with this team over it." He was very careful not to mention meeting the real Leonard Snart in addition to his hallucinations. That topic was still off limits. "But…but I did get through it, Snart. I got better. I let go and moved forward. I changed."

As hard as that part of his speech had been, Mick knew he had now reached the hardest part. He forced himself to make eye contact again. "I changed a lot, Snart. I'm still a thief who likes fire, but the rest of me isn't the same. When you came back, I wanted us to be like we always were. Partners. But then, I…I started thinking about how I'm not who I always was. I'm not the guy you blew yourself up for. Not anymore. So I just thought…if you knew how much I've changed, how much I've been through, then maybe…maybe things would be too different. Maybe you wouldn't be my partner. Maybe you'd regret dying for a guy who doesn't…who doesn't exist." He reiterated his statement more confidently this time, more for himself than for Snart. "He doesn't exist, Snart. That's not me. I'm not who I was in 2016. I'm not the guy you blew yourself up saving. I thought I could get away with not saying any of that, but I was wrong. So…" He waved his hands aimlessly, trying and failing to think of a way to conclude what he was saying. "So…that's it. That's everything you wanted to know." He scowled and added gruffly, "You happy now?"

Leonard stared at Mick for a few silent moments as he contemplated. He stood up from his chair and crossed his arms as he continued to think of what to say. Finally, he took a small step forward toward Mick. "Do you remember juvie?" he said calmly.

Mick raised his eyebrows. That was not the response he had expected. "What?"

"On my first day in juvie," Leonard explained, "a bunch of older kids decided to jump me. I thought I was done for until another kid stepped in and fought them off. He saved my life." He pointed at Mick. "That's the guy I blew myself up saving, Mick. And that's the same guy I'm looking at right now."

Mick's could feel himself starting to get emotional and tried to force it down. "So…you don't…you don't mind that we're not back to normal?"

"Come on, partner," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not an idiot. It's been three years. It's not like the world stopped turning just because I was gone."

"And you don't regret…doing what you did? Even though I'm different?"

Leonard shook his head. "Are you kidding? I saved you so you could go on with your life. I'd have to be pretty stupid to think that wouldn't mean a little change."

Mick smiled, then turned his face away, hoping to get his emotions in control before he did something really embarrassing. "So much for no touchy-feely," he joked.

"Says the guy who started this conversation in the first place," Leonard drawled. "I'm starting to think you like all this touchy-feely crap."

Mick made a disgusted face. "Shut up, Snart."

As Mick spoke, the rest of the Legends began to file into the room. Zari raised an eyebrow questioningly as she passed Mick. "Dude, are you okay? You look weirdly close to crying."

"No!" Mick shouted emphatically. He didn't dare look back at Leonard, who smirked very amusedly at his over-the-top reaction. "Crying is stupid. I don't do that. Why's everyone in here?" he demanded, drawing the attention of the room away from himself.

"Because," Sara answered as she walked through the doorway behind the rest of the group, "we're having a team meeting and going where you already are is the only way to ensure you show up."

Mick frowned. "Oh yeah? Watch this." He turned around and started walking toward the opposite exit. Nate stood in his path, preventing him from leaving. Mick groaned and gave in. "Ugh, fine." He pulled up a chair and slumped down in it. Leonard took a seat next to him and propped his feet up on the nearest table. "What's the problem?" Mick asked bluntly.

"The problem," Ava answered, standing beside Sara in front of the messy semicircle of Legends that had formed around them, "is that the Legends just broke a ton of Time Bureau protocols and, as I understand it," she added with a glance toward Constantine, "made things a lot more complicated for the whole Tabitha situation."

"So what?" Mick grumbled.

"So," Sara answered, "we need to go over everything that happened and get everyone on the same page."

"It's standard Time Bureau procedure," Ava added. "Especially for missions that go, well…"

"Completely off the rails?" Nate suggested.

Ava pointed to him. "Yes. That. Exactly."

"Like every Legends mission, you mean," Zari muttered.

"Some more than others," Ava replied. She turned her face to look at Sara. "Do I make myself clear, Captain Lance?"

"Yes, Director Sharpe," Sara said. She looked toward John and Charlie, who were standing together on the far side of the group. "So, Team Heyworld, want to go first?"

"What's there to say?" Charlie said disappointedly. "Seems the cat's already out of the bag." She pointed at John. "This bloke set Tabitha loose in Mallus's realm."

John looked at her with an offended scowl. "Hey now, love, don't forget that I asked for your opinion the whole way through. You wanted me to do it. We were both tricked."

"By whom?" Ava asked.

"Paul Christian," Nora answered from where she was seated beside Ray. "Apparently, he's Tabitha's new sidekick."

"He told us he was trying to shut off access to the dark dimension," Charlie elaborated. "But he was actually trying to open it."

"And both Tabitha and Paul Christian are there now?" Ava asked.

"Yes," Charlie and John said simultaneously.

Ava looked to Nora. "Well, you're our expert on all things Mallus. How easy would you say it is for them to cross between dimensions from there?"

Nora hesitated, then answered, "It depends."

"On what?"

"How stable the timeline is, for one thing. Also, what kinds of magical spells they have access to and how much extradimensional power they're able to use."

Ava nodded as she processed the information. "Okay. That's…we'll deal with that. We'll need to be extra vigilant with the timeline as flimsy as it is, but we'll deal with it." She then looked to Ray. "And what about Team Library?"

Ray offered a sheepish smile. "So, as it turns out, the A.T.O.M. suit's tech is super futuristic for 1950…"

Sara laughed. "Ha! I sure hope so."

Ava shot her a disapproving look. "Please take this seriously, Captain."

Sara wanted to think of a clever retort, but she forced herself to move on instead. "Okay…but how does that end with you and Zari being interrogated by the FBI and Garima storming through the building while causing who-knows-how-much damage and injury?"

"Hey!" Mick interjected. "I specifically wrote her not to kill people this time. I thought you'd be happy."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Mick, you don't get a prize for not killing people."

"Maybe I should," he retorted.

"Look," Zari spoke up, "we tried to get out of it as quickly and cleanly as possible. Things just got a little out of hand once Ray got caught tampering with the Library of Congress's records system."

"Hey, I tried to come up with a good explanation," Ray argued. "You know I'm not great at lying to authority. Or lying under pressure. Or…most kinds of lying."

Ava turned to Nate and Mona. "And what did you two say you were doing?"

"Pretending to fight about Alexander Hamilton," Mona answered.

"Yeah," Nate agreed. He added with a friendly smile in Mona's direction, "I know it got heated, but you understand it wasn't personal, right?"

"Oh, of course it wasn't!" she said sweetly, patting him on the back. "But that's so nice of you to make sure, Nate."

"Guys," Ava said, redirecting the attention of the room. "Can we focus? Please? This is serious."

"Come on, Director," Sara said calmly. "It's not like this is the worst mess the Legends have ever made of a mission."

"Very true," Nate agreed.

"Not even close," said Zari.

"We did get the anachronism and the rift," Ray pointed out. "I consider that a win."

"That's not the point," Ava replied. "The Time Bureau is low on resources. Maybe we could have covered for you guys for the last couple years without much effort, but right now, it's hard. We can't just blow it off, okay? Now, I still have a couple questions about…"

"I've got a question," Leonard said, speaking up for the first time since the meeting had started. The room went silent and all eyes focused on him.

Ava stared at him blankly for a moment. She hadn't expected to be interrupted. "What's your question, Mr. Snart?"

Leonard put his feet down from the table, then stood up, holding eye contact with Ava the whole time. "Are you the captain of this crew?" he asked.

Sara froze. _Oh no_, she thought. _Why is he doing this? Now is not a good time._ She looked uneasily between Leonard and Ava.

Ava frowned. "What does that have to do with…"

"I asked you first," he said.

Ava took a step forward and crossed her arms with a cold expression. "No, Mr. Snart, I am not."

"Huh. Interesting." Leonard pretended to think for a second, then continued, "In that case, I've got another question." He took a toward her, mimicking her defiant stance. "Why are you acting like you're our boss?"

"I'm not," she replied firmly. "I'm acting like someone tasked with fixing the timeline and trying to do it with minimal complications."

"Sounds a lot like Sara's job," Leonard said.

"It is. We have similar responsibilities. We just perform them in different ways."

"Right. And that means you get to board her ship, call a team meeting, act like you're in charge, and brush our real captain off when she says stuff you don't like. Makes sense."

The attention of the room was now on Sara. She moved a few steps closer to Ava and Leonard as she responded, "Guys, it's not a big deal. Technically, I agreed to called the meeting."

Ava continued to hold eye contact with Leonard. "She's right," she told him.

Leonard didn't seem phased at all. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean she's the one running it." He took another small step toward her. "Here's the thing: I've got a _very_ short list of people I take orders from." He nodded his head toward Sara. "She's on it. You're not."

Mona walked quietly over to Mick's side. "They're not just fighting about the team meeting, are they?" she whispered.

"Snart definitely isn't," he whispered back.

Ava finally looked away by glancing at the floor, only to lift her face again with an even more piercing look in her eyes. She took one more step toward him, making the space between the two of them very narrow. "Well, then," she said, "it looks like your list is going to have to get a little bit longer."

"I doubt it."

Sara tried to intervene again. "Hey, you know what? This is getting off topic. Let's just get back to what happened at the Library of Congress…"

Ava didn't back down. She narrowed her eyes at Leonard and studied him for a moment, then continued, "That's pretty bold of you to tell me how to do my job. Especially when, if I'm not mistaken, you're the reason I have to do it this way in the first place." Leonard continued to glare intimidatingly at her but did not say anything. Ava was not intimidated and took the silence as an opportunity to keep talking. "Isn't that right, Mr. Snart? Would Tabitha and the rifts be a problem for us if it wasn't for you reentering time?"

That was too far for Sara. She clenched her fists angrily and stepped into the small space between Ava and Leonard. "That's enough!" she exclaimed. "Snart ended up where he did because he sacrificed himself to save us all. He did nothing wrong."

Leonard smirked. "Well, I wouldn't say _nothing_…"

Sara glanced at him over her shoulder with a silencing look. "Hey, I'm trying to help you here." Leonard's smirk faded and he remained quiet. Sara looked back at Ava again. "If you're going to blame the rifts on somebody, blame them on me. I can take it. But leave Snart alone."

A long staring contest followed between Ava and Sara. As the wheels turned in Ava's mind, she tried to process everything that was now becoming clear about Leonard Snart. _She kept him a secret from me_, she thought, _she risked the timeline to save him, and now that he's back, she jumps in to defend him the moment I say something against him. Maybe I reacted a little too harshly. I can admit to that. But why? Why is she so protective of him? From what I've seen, he's not a very nice person. He's rude, arrogant, and won't listen to authority. Why is she prioritizing him – some guy she knew for barely a few months – over me, the timeline, and everything else? It doesn't make sense._

Finally, the staring contest ended with Ava looking away and taking a step back. "You're right," she admitted. "I overreacted, and I apologize."

"Thank you," Sara said, relaxing her posture.

Ava looked around the room at the Legends. They had all been watching the intense conversation with great interest, and they hadn't stopped staring yet. Ava cleared her throat, then turned to Sara. "I think you can handle things without me from here, Captain Lance. The meeting's over."

"Finally!" Mick bellowed, standing up from his seat. "It's been long enough."

Sara rolled her eyes at Mick, then address the rest of the group. "You heard her, Legends. You're dismissed. Go do…whatever you were doing before, I guess."

The Legends gradually filed out of the lab until only Leonard, Sara, and Ava were left. Ava couldn't help noticing how comfortable they seemed standing so close to each other. Once it became clear that Leonard wasn't leaving with the others, Ava leaned in toward Sara and said, "Captain, may I have a word with you…_alone_?" She glanced at Leonard as she emphasized the last word.

"Yes, of course," Sara said. She exchanged a glance with Leonard. Ava wasn't sure what message she had silently conveyed to him, but it was enough for him to relax his tense stance and then finally walk out of the room, throwing one last look behind him as he left. Sara turned back to Ava. "Okay. We're alone."

Ava was relieved enough to at least partially let go of the professional tone she had been using. "Whew. Good." She glanced out the door Leonard had just exited through, then back to Sara. "That really wasn't the first impression I was hoping to make."

Sara crossed her arms and leaned back against the table behind her. "Oh, don't worry. That was nothing. You should have seen him and Rip when they were first starting to work together."

"That bad, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Well," Ava said, "I guess that makes me feel a little bit better." She paused a moment to think, then continued earnestly, "I wasn't trying to step on your toes back there, and I definitely didn't mean to pick a fight with Snart. There's just a lot happening right now, and I have to be responsible for all of it. It's not easy."

"I get that," Sara said understandingly.

"Good." Ava hesitated, then said, "In that case, you'll understand why it's extremely important that Snart comes back to the Bureau with me."

Sara stared at her blankly, then laughed as if she'd just heard a hilarious joke. "Sorry, what? Snart? At the Bureau?" She studied Ava's face and stopped laughing. "Oh. You're serious."

"I know he just came back to the ship," Ava replied, "but, if my theory is correct – that he is still connected to the timeline – he could be our secret weapon to save time, and maybe even stop Tabitha while we're at it. He needs to be kept in a safe place where our agents can make sure nothing happens to him."

Sara didn't like this idea at all. She knew there were no malicious intentions behind Ava's suggestion, but it just didn't sit right with her. The image of Leonard Snart at the Time Bureau felt all kinds of wrong. "No way," she said. "First of all, you clearly don't know Snart, because he would hate that. I mean _hate_ it."

"It's not like we'd be keeping him prisoner or anything," Ava clarified. "We'd probably find him a nice apartment somewhere and just have agents check in on him regularly. We could even give him a temporary job at the Bureau so he can keep helping you."

"And he would still hate it," Sara replied. "He might even hate that more. Besides, you don't even know if your theory is correct yet. He might not have any connection left to the timeline at all."

"That's why we need to keep an eye on him, Captain Lance," Ava continued. "The Time Bureau needs to study him and run some tests that analyze whether the connection exists and how we can use it if it does."

"You're talking about him like he's a weapon or some kind of experiment," Sara argued. "He's not. He's a person, and he belongs here."

"You know that's not what I mean," Ava replied. "Of course he's a person. He's just a person we need to run tests on and keep safe in case he's the key to fixing all this."

Sara shook her head emphatically. "No, no, no. He barely tolerates Ray testing on him, let alone a bunch of strangers from an agency he's never worked with before. I mean, no offense, but I don't think he's completely convinced that the Time Bureau isn't just a Time Masters reboot yet. He would never go along with it."

"He will if you tell him to."

Sara stiffened. She said nothing at first, then asked, "What are you talking about?"

"You heard his 'very short list.' I've only known him for about ten minutes, but I can tell he listens to you. If it comes from you, maybe he'll consider it."

"No." Sara held up her hand to stop Ava before she could start speaking again. "I gave him a choice to leave when we first got him back, and he refused. He wants to be here, on this ship, with this team. I can't just take that away from him. I could never order him to leave after everything he's done."

"You're not ordering him to leave," Ava argued. "You're telling him that he can help you by temporarily coming back to the Bureau until our questions are answered."

"I still can't do that to him, Director Sharpe. I just…I can't."

"Why?" A tense silence filled the room as the question sank in. After a moment, Ava asked again, "Why does he have to stay here? I told you I'd make sure he's safe and treated well. Don't you trust me?"

"I do," Sara insisted. "Of course I do. You know I do."

"Then why don't you trust me with Snart?"

"That's not true."

"Captain Lance, look at the facts. You didn't trust me enough to talk to me about him when we were together. You didn't trust me enough to inform me of what was happening when you were saving him. And now, you don't trust me enough to let me take him back to the Bureau with me. I know you missed him, and I understand why you'd want him to stick around, but this is bigger than that. Why are you so attached to this guy? And why is that so much more important than working with me?"

Sara honestly wasn't sure how to answer that. "It's…it's not personal," she said slowly. "I want to work with you. I really do. I want to save time, and I know we have to work together to do that. But I'm not going to force Snart to leave when he doesn't want to, especially if it could all be for nothing anyway."

Ava sighed, exhausted from all the arguing. "Captain, I'm just trying to figure out how we can stitch the timeline back together. Snart might be our best option, but we won't know until we do the necessary analysis. Would it really hurt that much to tell him that?"

Sara frowned. Even if she could convince Leonard to go back with Ava, she knew he would be miserable. He'd go crazy in a place like the Time Bureau and would probably drive everyone else there crazy with him. Not to mention the fact that she knew he didn't fully trust the Time Bureau yet. Would he really be willing to go along with a government agency that he still associated with the organization was willing to die to destroy? Absolutely not. "Yes, Director Sharpe, I think it would. You don't know Snart like I do." She looked away for a moment, gathering her thoughts, then returned her gaze to Ava. "There might be another way to do this. Ray noticed some irregularities in Snart's cells after the last mission. He wanted to run some extra tests to see what's going on with him, but Snart wasn't thrilled about it. If Snart stays here and lets Ray run his tests, we can send you the results and keep the Time Bureau in the loop about everything we find. That might answer your questions and allow him to stay."

Ava considered the idea. "That's…not a bad plan," she admitted. "I guess it would be enough for now, although long-term decisions can't be made without the results."

"Fair enough." Sara stepped away from the table she was leaning on and stood up straight. "I'll tell him what's going on and explain why we need him to cooperate with Ray. If he agrees to do it, problem solved." She adjusted her stance to look a little more intimidating. "But even if he doesn't, I'm still not ordering him to leave."

"Very well," Ava conceded. "I guess that's the most I can ask for at this point. Just keep me updated." She looked at her wrist and began adjusting the settings on her time courier. "Meanwhile, I'll check in on Gary and the effort to smooth over what's left of the Legends' mess at the Library of Congress." She opened a portal to the Time Bureau and stepped through it. "Goodbye, Captain. I appreciate your cooperation." The portal closed behind her, leaving Sara alone.


	31. Convincing Zari

"I'm telling you," Mona insisted to Zari as they walked through the corridors of the Waverider, "they're totally in love. You saw how protective they were of each other back there."

Zari rolled her eyes. "Mona, you really need to stop pushing this. Don't you have anything better to do?"

Mona stopped walking and turned to fully face her skeptical teammate. "Zari, I'm the ship's unofficial official romance expert. I know what I'm talking about."

"Do you, though?"

"They're in love. Or at least very strongly in like."

"That's not a thing," Zari deadpanned.

Mona crossed her arms. "First of all, it is. Second, I know something's going on, and it seems like it has been for a long time."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"It's obvious."

"Not to me."

Mona thought for a moment, then grabbed Zari's hand. "I'll show you. Come on."

She pulled her into the nearest large room, which happened to be the library. No one else was inside. Mona called out to the ceiling, "Gideon?"

"Yes, Miss Wu?" Gideon's voice replied.

"Remember those clips of Snart and Captain Lance that you showed us?" Mona asked.

"Of course."

Mona looked back at Zari and grinned, then asked, "Do you have any more we didn't get to see?"

"Oh, I have much more footage than what you've seen. Captain Hunter kept careful records of everything that happened on board his ship, the vast majority of which are currently categorized as publicly available to those with access to the ship's files."

"Perfect," Mona said. "Can you show us another video then?"

"Yes, Miss Wu."

Zari raised an eyebrow as Gideon began to turn on the nearest screen. "Is this really a good idea? They could walk in and see…"

"Shh," Mona hushed her, pointing at the screen. "Just watch."

Zari gave up protesting and stared at the video footage that appeared.

The video started with footage of the cargo bay. Sara was alone, and from the look on her face, she was very angry about something. She threw knives at the opposite wall, one after the other, as if trying to take out her rage on it. When she finally ran out of knives, she grunted in frustration, and then walked over to pull the knives out of where they were stuck. After this, she returned to her original position and began throwing them again.

Leonard Snart entered the cargo bay. He watched silently for two throws, then drawled, "So, what did the wall do to you?"

Sara stopped throwing, but she didn't look back to acknowledge him. "Nothing."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Blowing off steam." She launched a knife forcefully at the opposite wall, then prepared to throw another.

"Because you killed some guys at a bank?"

Sara froze and looked as if she'd been caught in a trap. She slowly turned around to face Leonard. "How did you…"

Leonard held his hands up. "Calm down, assassin. I'm a thief, not a stalker. I heard you and Rip discussing it when we all got back on the ship. You weren't exactly whispering."

Sara lowered her gaze to the floor. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. Don't." Leonard took a step forward. "But I'm not sure if cutting that wall open is going to help."

Sara looked up with a mix of curiosity and confusion on her face. "Why? Got something better in mind?"

"Sort of." He walked up until he was within arm's reach of her. "You're upset, right? You just want to let all that anger out of your system. That wall's one thing, but if you really want to start a fight…" He seemed to just barely hesitate before finishing, "…you can fight me."

Sara balked. "What? Why would I do that?"

"I saw the way you almost stabbed that guy in Savage's cult. Whatever's bothering you, it's not gone yet. Personally, I'm not the hot-headed type, but I've seen Mick like this plenty of times. He usually calms down on his own, but once in a while, he needs a little help, so I let him go a few rounds with me until he tires out. I'm sure the team would prefer not to live on a ship with an enraged assassin – myself included – so if using that energy on somebody who can actually fight back is what it takes to get you back in control of yourself, I'm giving you that chance."

She shook her head and sighed. "No…no, you don't get it."

"Think I can't handle it? I'm no League of Assassins alum, but I know how to fight."

"I could kill you."

"You could've killed me a hundred times by now if you wanted to. You haven't. And I'm willing to bet that you and your vigilante friends have sparred together before without killing each other. I think I can trust you to blow off a little steam without ending my life."

"Leonard, you don't…maybe we do need to talk about it." She took a step back from him, then explained, "It's called bloodlust. I've had it since I came back from the dead. It's like an urge to kill. It never fully goes away, but there are times when it's especially strong. I gave into it at the bank. I didn't have to kill those people, but the bloodlust took over." She waved a knife in the air. "And now I'm throwing knives at the wall because even though I managed to hold it in tonight, I still don't feel one hundred percent back to normal, so I have to do something violent until that urge finally finishes calming down."

Leonard stared at her blankly for a moment, then said simply, "Oh."

"Oh?" Sara repeated, almost laughing. "That's all you've got to say? I just confessed to being an out-of-control killing machine."

"That's not what I heard," he said. "You know yourself and your limits, and you're trying to do better. Doesn't sound like an out-of-control killing machine to me. Anyway, my offer still stands."

Sara took two more steps back, consciously measuring the distance between them with her eyes. "No. You don't understand. I'm dangerous."

Leonard smirked flirtatiously. "Oh, I know."

"No, I mean I'm actually dangerous right now. Bloodlust makes me want to kill – not just hurt, _kill_ – people who are close to me. It's already made me attack enough of my other friends. If I fight you before I'm fully back in control, I'll be feeding it what it wants, and that'll only make it stronger." She noticed a subtle change in his facial expression as its usual coldness softened slightly. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Not nothing. What was that look?"

"What look?"

"You're wearing it right now. Don't play dumb." The two of them held eye contact for a silent moment. Sara didn't look away but broke the silence with a realization, "It's because I just said we're friends, isn't it?"

Leonard turned his face away from her guiltily, then tried to return to his original icy expression.

Sara smiled amusedly. "Seriously? That's what broke the classic Captain Cold scowl?"

"No."

"Aw," Sara teased, "it totally was. That's adorable."

"Shut up. No, it isn't."

Sara laughed, but her tone became more sarcastic than entertained. "Well, congratulations, buddy. You just became friends with a homicidal monster." She turned around and threw the knife in her hand. It landed in the wall beside the others.

Leonard's face softened again, but this time, there was a trace of concern that hadn't been there before. Something about what she'd just said clearly bothered him. "Don't say that," he said, his voice lower and gentler than before.

"Why not? It's true. If I can't stop myself from killing people whenever this thing inside me demands it, then what better description is there for me?" She looked back at him and seemed surprised to see the sympathetic look on his face. "And what's it to you, anyway? Why do you care what I call myself? You barely even know me."

"I know enough."

"You really don't."

"Sara…" He started to take a step toward her. She moved another step back to keep the same distance.

"No. Stop." She held up her hand, signaling him not to come closer. "Until I get this out of my system, I don't trust myself to be close to anybody. I barely held it together during the fight with Savage and the funeral. If I even lay a finger on you, that could bring it back to the surface and make me kill you, and if I killed a friend – because we _are_ friends – I would never forgive myself. Ever. So just…don't come near me. Please."

Leonard stood there a moment. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. "Okay," he finally said, still speaking gently. "I won't." He slowly backed away until he reached the back wall of the cargo bay. "Is this far enough?" he asked, his usual snarky drawl returning.

Sara stared at him in confusion. "For what?"

"You said you didn't trust yourself close to me. I'd say we've got at least eight feet between us right now, give or take a few inches. Is this far enough for you not to get a sudden urge to assassinate me?"

"I guess, but…why are you staying?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

"I…No. No, I don't," she said, sounding a little surprised at her own answer. "But…why do you want to stay?"

Leonard shrugged and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. "Doesn't seem like the best time for you to be alone." When she continued to look confused, he added, "What? If I'm not going to fight you, I've got to do something."

"But what are you doing? Watching me throw knives?"

Leonard leaned his back against the wall behind him and allowed his face to break into a very small half-smile. "You said we're friends. This is what friends do, right?" He grew emotionless again, at least in his tone and appearance. "Don't worry, I won't move until you say it's safe. Now go on, show that wall who's boss."

She stared at him for a moment, studying him. "You're full of surprises, Leonard Snart."

"Why, thank you," he returned with a playful smirk.

She quickly looked away from him, but not without subtly smiling back.

"Gideon, pause," Mona commanded. The frame on the screen froze. She walked up to it and pointed at Sara's face. "Do you see that, Z?"

Zari stared at the image. "See what? Sara smiling?"

"Smiling _because of_ Snart. Cute, right?"

"You can smile for reasons other than being into someone," Zari pointed out.

Mona thought for a moment. "Okay, I guess that's fair. But how do you explain this? Gideon, rewind." The footage rapidly played backward until Mona said, "Stop! There it is." The video stopped on the image of Snart smirking as he called Sara dangerous. "You cannot tell me that's not a flirty look."

Zari studied the screen. "Well…sure. It looks like it. But I still think you're jumping to conclusions with the whole 'they're in love' thing."

Mona sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Zari, come on. I know you're not that oblivious." Her face brightened suddenly. "I know! You just need more proof! Hey, Gideon? Fast forward until they're talking again."

Gideon obeyed and the footage ran speedily through several more rounds of Sara throwing knives at the wall, retrieving them, and then throwing them again. Finally, she finished her final round and the footage played at its normal speed. Sara stretched her arms, then turned around to see that Leonard hadn't moved. She pulled the knives out of the wall, put them away in one of the many weapons cases in the room, and then walked over until she was standing right in front of him, looking down at where he was seated on the floor. He raised his eyes to meet hers. "Is my life in danger?" he asked.

"Not at the moment," she said. She moved closer and sat down on the floor next to him. After sitting in silence for a few seconds, she smiled and said, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He turned to her and added seriously, "And I mean that. I plan on keeping Raymond terrified of me for as long as possible. Don't ruin that for me."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Okay, Leonard. Your secret's safe with me." She scooted an inch closer to him, still not quite close enough to touch him. All the same, he seemed surprised at how close she was and watched her with curiosity. Sara's expression grew serious again and she paused, then said, "By the way, I meant to tell you…Jax told me what you did today."

Leonard looked away from her, but he said nothing.

Sara leaned over to get just a little bit closer to him. "I'm sorry about your dad," she said solemnly.

He glanced back at her for a moment before looking away again. "You don't have to say that."

"But I want to. And I am."

Leonard leaned his head back against the wall behind him and sighed. "I guess time just really hates my family. Should've seen that coming." He turned his head to face Sara. "Time travel. You think it'll make everything easier, and then before you know it, your teammate's dead, you're on an immortal psychopath's hit list, and you can't even stop your dad from turning into a piece of crap."

"And then you end up sitting on the floor of a spaceship spilling your guts to an assassin with bloodlust problems," Sara deadpanned.

Leonard chuckled wryly. "Yeah, that about sums it up." He quickly added, "Not that I mind it. Talking to you, I mean. You're…" He studied her with his eyes as he tried to decide how to finish that sentence, but he seemed to get sidetracked because no words came.

After a beat, Sara raised her eyebrows expectantly. "I'm what, Leonard?"

"I don't know," he finally answered. "You're just…you."

"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment."

"You should."

"Okay, then. Thanks." She stood up and looked down at him from her full height. "It's late. I'm going to get some sleep. You should too. I'm sure Rip's got a lot in store for us tomorrow."

Leonard shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably."

Sara gave him a small smile. "Thanks for staying. I mean that. And don't worry, I won't tell Ray." She turned around and walked out the door. "See you later, Leonard."

He smiled as he watched her go, though Sara was too far away to see it. "Goodnight, Sara," he said quietly.

As the clip ended, Mona turned to Zari, beaming with excitement. "That. Was. Adorable!" she exclaimed. "Don't you think so?"

Zari sighed. "Mona, you really need to find a new book to read."

"That's irrelevant. Was it cute or not?"

Zari hesitated, then finally gave in. "Okay, yeah, it was a little cute."

Mona pumped her fist. "Yes! Told you!"

Zari held up a hand to pause her celebration. "But one cute interaction does not equal madly in love, okay?"

Mona grinned mischievously. "_One_ doesn't. But how about…more than one?" Zari facepalmed as she realized what was about to happen. "Gideon?" Mona asked. "Those clips? Keep them coming. We've got plenty of time."

* * *

Leonard sat in the parlor, positioned sideways on a chair while reading the next chapter of _Around the World in Eighty Days_. John Constantine strolled around the corner, spotted him, and hopped up the steps into the room. "Ah, there you are," he greeted him. "I was wondering where you'd gone off to."

_Great_, Leonard thought. _I finally get a minute to myself and the last person I want to talk to right now shows up_. He kept his eyes glued to the page and made no motion to acknowledge John.

John did not take the hint. He took a step closer and noted the book's title and author. "Jules Verne, eh? Classic." He glanced at the book again, then asked, "Looks old. Is that a first edition?"

"No," Leonard answered, giving up on ignoring the magician. He still didn't take his eyes off the page. "What do you want, Constantine?"

John leaned back casually against the captain's desk. "Oh, not much. Just thought we ought to have a little chat."

"Is that so?" Leonard drawled sarcastically. Mick's words from earlier about John and Sara echoed through his mind. He tried to push them back down but was unsuccessful, much to his irritation. On the outside, though, he managed to remain completely composed.

"It is," Constantine replied, completely unaware of Leonard's inner thoughts. "There's something I'm trying to make sense of. When Tabitha and her new friend had us in the dark dimension, they had a chance to kill us, but they said they needed us alive for some reason. Now, I would guess that their plan involves restoring Tabitha's power as much as possible. She's stronger in the dark dimension, but if she wants to get back to full strength, she'll probably be looking for a way to use the instability of the timeline as a power source." He gestured to Snart. "You've actually been inside the timeline. Isn't that right, love?"

Leonard cringed at that final word, but finally looked up from his book. "Apparently."

"Then can you think of any reason why keeping us alive would help them draw power from it? At first, I thought they were just interested in keeping hostages to blackmail the other Legends, or something of that nature, but I can't shake the feeling that it goes deeper than that. You didn't see anything in the timeline itself that could give us a clue, did you?"

"No."

John sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot." He smirked and leaned even farther back against the desk. "So…got any plans tonight?"

_Why is he still here?_ Leonard wondered. _I answered his question. Can't he just leave?_ "Aside from being on a time traveling spaceship?" he replied coolly, trying to mask his annoyance with John's continued presence.

"Ha, good one." John stepped away from the desk and moved closer to Leonard. "Just thought we might get a little better acquainted. Maybe get drinks, or something a little more…" He trailed off, watching Leonard's face carefully for a reaction.

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Are you hitting on me, Constantine?"

John chuckled. "That's what I get for trying to be subtle."

_Well, this is ironic_, Leonard thought. "I wouldn't call that subtle," he said dryly.

"Look," John said, ignoring his criticism, "the truth is I think you're a fine-looking bloke, and I'm willing to bet three years of isolation in the timeline didn't result in you getting into any relationship commitments."

"It did not," Snart replied. He hesitated to ask the next question in his mind but decided to go ahead and take the plunge. "What about Sara?"

"Oh," John said with a knowing look. "You heard about that, did you?"

_Sounds like Mick wasn't lying_, Leonard thought. "I did," he said.

"Don't worry, mate," John explained. "That was a one-time thing, nearly two years ago now. We just got a little carried away while locked in a mental asylum in the past."

"I didn't ask for details," Leonard muttered under his breath.

"But we're just friends," John continued, apparently not hearing his comment. "We go way back. Nothing else is going on between us these days. I assure you," he added with a flourish of his hand, "I am _very_ available."

_And he is also badly misreading this conversation_, Leonard thought, feeling more amused than he wanted to admit.

"So, handsome," John said, "now that we're on the same page, what do you think?"

_I think I have zero interest in being with a guy who slept with the woman I love_, Leonard thought. _Or, frankly, anyone as weird as John Constantine._ "I think I'm flattered," he said, "but I'll have to pass." He added with a wry smirk, "Nothing personal. I'm just not into guys who carry around amputated human body parts."

John stared at him blankly for a moment, then crossed his arms and huffed. "Someone told you about the foot, didn't they?"

"Multiple people told me about the foot. And the book covered in human skin. And the jar of eyeballs."

"Those aren't all human eyeballs."

"Doesn't make it better."

"Bollocks." John dropped his arms and offered Leonard a friendly look. "No hard feelings, mate. Just thought I'd ask." He added, "Of course, if you change your mind, my door's always open."

"That's really not information you should share with a thief," Leonard pointed out.

"Maybe," John replied with a flirtatious wink, "but I'll take the risk." He then laughed and added, "I'm just messing with you, mate." He moved closer and reached out as if about to touch Leonard, but he stopped after a cold glare from Leonard changed his mind. He pulled his hand back and used it to fix his hair instead. "Er…right. I'll see you around, then." He turned to leave and strolled out of the parlor.

_Finally_, Leonard thought as soon as he was gone. He leaned back in the chair again and picked up where he left off in his book.

* * *

Charlie cracked the library's door open and poked her head in through the opening. "Oi, thought I heard something in here," she said, noticing Zari and Mona. They turned around to face her and she stepped fully inside, closing the door behind her. "What's going on?"

"Remember those video clips we all watched when we were figuring out that Snart wasn't dead?" Mona asked.

"Yeah."

"Well," Mona said with a grin, "it turns out there were a lot more than what we saw."

Charlie looked at the screen, which was still paused on a frame of footage. "So…?"

"I'm using them to prove to Zari that Snart and the Captain are super into each other," Mona finished.

Charlie cackled. "Ha! Really? That's what you're up to? You really are crazy about any kind of love story rubbish, aren't you?"

"See?" Zari said, looking at Mona while gesturing toward Charlie's reaction. "I told you this was a weird idea."

"What? No!" Charlie quickly corrected her. "It's a brilliant idea. This is just the kind of lighthearted insanity I need to cool down after all that drama with the dark dimension."

Zari arched her eyebrows in surprise. "Say what?"

"You two wait a minute," Charlie said, pointing one finger at each of them. "I'm getting popcorn."

"Popcorn?" Zari repeated in disbelief.

"What else?" Charlie replied, already halfway out the door.

It wasn't long before Charlie had returned with a heaping bowl of popcorn, which she placed on the table. "Help yourself, Z," she said, stuffing a handful into her mouth while her other hand pulled over a chair. She sat down and propped her feet up against the table, a few inches to the side of the popcorn bowl. "Now then," she told Mona, "where were we?"

"We were just about to start another video," Mona answered. She grabbed some popcorn for herself, then asked, "Gideon, could you keep playing the next clip, please?"

Zari sighed and, giving up on resisting, pulled up another chair beside Charlie. As she reached for the popcorn bowl, Gideon began playing the next video.

On the screen before them, they saw Leonard Snart watching television in the parlor. He was seated alone. The room was otherwise empty. After a moment, Sara stepped inside and walked silently over until she was standing right behind him. She lightly tapped his shoulder and said, "Hi, Leonard."

Leonard looked back at her suddenly, clearly surprised by her unexpected entrance. "You trying to give me a heart attack, assassin?"

"Why?" she teased. "Did I scare you?"

"No," he replied. "But don't sneak up on me like that. You're lucky I could tell it was your voice."

"And what would've happened if you couldn't?"

"I probably would've reacted a lot less peacefully."

Sara smiled and rested her hand on his shoulder, this time patting it gently a couple times before removing it. Leonard didn't make any visible effort to resist. If anything, he seemed to like it, relaxing his shoulders ever so slightly while she touched him. "Good thing I used my voice then, isn't it?" she said.

"Yeah, good thing." His face broke into a playful smirk as he continued to look at her. "I'd feel pretty bad if I messed up that face."

"Aw, you do care." She stepped aside and pulled up a chair next to him, then looked forward at the screen. "What are you watching?" Before he could respond, she recognized it. "Shark Week? How are you watching Shark Week in the temporal zone?"

Leonard shrugged. "Gideon's cable works everywhere, apparently."

"How?"

"Don't ask me. I'm as surprised as you."

"Fair enough." Sara crossed her legs and sat back comfortably in her chair. "I wasn't expecting you to be a shark guy. I was thinking more along the lines of penguins and polar bears."

"You don't know everything about me," Leonard replied, throwing a sideways glance her way.

"I guess I don't." Sara watched the screen for a moment before adding, "You know, I loved sharks when I was a kid. They were one of my favorite animals."

Leonard looked at her curiously. "Really?"

"Yeah," she said, turning her face toward him. "I had this stuffed shark. It was one of my favorite toys. I never got rid of it. It's still at my dad's house somewhere." Her casual expression suddenly clouded as if she'd just remembered something she'd rather forget. She stopped talking and looked away.

Leonard did not look away. "Sara? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She waited a few moments until it became clear that he wasn't going to stop looking at her unless he got an answer. "I just remembered," she said, "when I died, my sister said…she said she couldn't stop hugging that stuffed shark. It's not a big deal. Forget I said anything."

He stared at her solemnly, his eyes full of sympathy. Without looking away, he reached for the remote and muted the TV. "I didn't know you had a sister," he said. He leaned in toward her, giving her his full attention. "Older or younger?"

"Older," Sara replied. By the look on her face, she seemed a little confused about where this conversation was going.

"What's her name?"

"Why do you want to know, crook?"

"You brought her up."

Sara hesitated, then finally gave in, smiling as she said her sister's name. "It's Laurel."

"Laurel Lance?"

"Yeah."

He nodded approvingly. "Are you two close?"

"We are. Well, we are now. Things got a little complicated between us for a while, but that's over." She glanced at the screen, still playing muted footage. "Don't you want to watch your show?"

"It's Shark _Week_. I can miss a few minutes." He smirked at his own joke, then spoke again, "Tell me about her."

"Why?"

"Because you're a very interesting person, and if your sister's half as interesting as you, then she's someone I'd like to know more about." When he didn't get an immediate response, he switched tactics. "Tell you what: I'll trade you. If you tell me about your sister, I'll tell you about mine."

Sara raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You have a sister?"

"I do. And the only other person on this ship who knows that is Mick, so I'm offering to let you in on some top-secret information here. I hope you appreciate that."

She rolled her eyes at his exaggeration, but ultimately accepted. "Well, now you've got me curious, so I'll bite. But you have to go first."

"Deal." He shifted in his seat and looked away just long enough to think about where to start. "Her name is Lisa. She's younger than me. I took care of her while she was growing up because our dad was…well, you know." He stopped talking for a moment, then redirected the conversation away from his father. "She's fun. Really fun. Loves anything bright and sparkling, which fits her personality perfectly. Definitely the extrovert of the family. And she's almost as good a thief as me. Almost."

"She sounds pretty cool," Sara commented.

Leonard nodded. "Yeah, she is." He pointed at Sara. "Your turn."

Sara thought for a moment, then answered, "All right, well, to start off…Laurel's a lawyer. She's always been the studious, well-behaved sister. I was always the rebel who got into trouble. And then Laurel would get me out of it." She smiled fondly. "There's this saying all our friends have about her."

"What is it?"

"Laurel Lance, always trying to save the world."

Leonard smirked amusedly. "That's adorable," he drawled.

"Well, it's true." She added self-deprecatingly, "Laurel's the one who pushes herself to excel through law school and looks out for everyone who needs her. I'm the one who gets myself shipwrecked and then becomes a professional murderer."

Leonard frowned. "You've really got to stop calling yourself that."

"Hey, it's my life. I'll describe it however I want. But the bottom line is, Laurel's the good Lance sister. I'm the…well, let's just say I'm the messy one."

He looked down thoughtfully, then back up at her face. "I wouldn't say that. You seem like a good person to me, and believe me, I know what bad looks like."

"Leonard, listen," she said, holding up her hand to stop him from arguing further. "You don't know how good Laurel is, or how hard I've made things for her. I stole her boyfriend, then I let her believe I was dead. I even got shot and died in front of her. I've probably caused as much trauma to my sister as any of the crazy supervillains we run into on a regular basis just by how messed up my life is. And yet, for some reason, she still stands by me and cares about me because that's the kind of beautiful, loving, good person she is. She even encouraged me to join this mission as a way to get a fresh start. I did what I had to do to survive, but she didn't deserve to be hurt by my actions in the way she was. You might put on a big show about being a 'bad guy,'" she added with large, sarcastic air quotes, "but at least you haven't hurt your sister like I have."

Leonard's face suddenly clouded. He dropped his eyes to the floor and turned away from her. He didn't say anything for a beat, then muttered, "Depends how you look at it."

Sara's brow furrowed. She leaned in toward him. "What do you mean?"

He looked up from the floor, but he continued to face straight forward, avoiding eye contact. "My sister has a scar. It's right here." He traced a small line near his collar where Lisa's scar was. "She got it from my dad. At the time, I was gone. In juvie." He sighed and shook his head. "I was supposed to protect her. If I hadn't been stupid and gotten myself caught, he wouldn't have…done that."

"That's not your fault," Sara assured him. "You didn't give her the scar."

"But I would've stopped him if I'd been there," he argued. "And I would've been there if my plan hadn't been so careless. She was too little to fight back against our dad on her own, and I knew it, but I decided to take a risk anyway. She has that scar because of me. End of story." He finally held eye contact with Sara again and added coldly, "And I'm not saying any of this because I want you to feel sorry for me. I don't want any pity, and I definitely don't want you to start making excuses for me. Got it?"

Sara didn't seem at all affected by his attempt to sound aloof. She leaned in even closer and placed her hand on his arm comfortingly. He seemed a little surprised by the gesture, but not upset. "Lisa's lucky to call you her brother," she said, "and I'm not just saying that out of pity. I can tell you really care about her."

Leonard glanced down at where her hand still rested on his arm. His face revealed the tiniest hint of a smile. "You too," he said. "About Laurel." He looked up at her face again with a hopeful expression. "When we're done with this whole saving-the-world thing, maybe I can take you to meet Lisa."

Sara grinned. "I'd be honored." She removed her hand from Leonard's arm and joked, "Then we can get together and gossip about how much of a dork you are."

Leonard teased her back, "Watch it, Canary. I could do the same thing with your sister." He added more earnestly, "Seriously, though, you should meet Lisa. You'd like her, and I know she'd really like you."

"You think so?"

"Oh, absolutely. You two would be friends for sure."

"You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"

Leonard didn't reply right away. "Maybe a little," he admitted quietly. He continued more confidently, "I put a lot of thought into everything, Sara. You know that. But the point is, when you meet her, she will definitely like you."

"What makes you so sure, Leonard?"

Leonard stared at her for a moment before answering with a half-smile that seemed a little more genuine than the previous ones, "What's not to like?"

"Wow," Charlie said, her mouth full of popcorn. "Gideon, pause." Gideon obeyed. Charlie pointed straight forward at the screen. "You see that look on his face? That's hot."

"Uh, can we maybe not sexualize our teammates?" Zari asked.

"You're shagging one of them," Charlie pointed out as she reached for another handful of popcorn.

"Not the point." Zari turned to Mona and added reluctantly, "But I do see a little of what you mean, though. Just a little."

Mona gave her a thumbs-up. "Progress!"

"I'm still on the fence, though," Zari insisted, "and I really don't want them to walk in here and see us doing this."

"Wasn't it your idea to watch it before?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Zari admitted, "but that was when we all didn't know who Snart was and thought he was dead. He could walk in here any second, and that would be super awkward."

"I don't care if we get caught," Charlie said. "Let's do another one."

"Cool," Mona said. "You heard her, Gideon! Roll it!"

* * *

Leonard finished one chapter and turned the page to the next, still sitting in the parlor. He heard a sound and looked up, then was surprised to see Sara standing in the doorway. Unlike John's appearance, he considered this a pleasant surprise. He set his book down and looked up at her. "Anything I can do for you, Captain Lance?" he asked.

She leaned sideways against the doorway and squinted at the book as she slowly recognized it. "Is that the book I gave you?"

"Sure is."

"Wow. That's a throwback. Are you still reading it?"

"Yeah. I didn't exactly have time to finish it before not-dying."

"Makes sense," she said with a nod. She glanced behind her, then back at him. "Are you waiting for Mick?"

"I'm not waiting for anybody," Leonard replied, "and Mick gave me very specific instructions not to enter our room until he informs me that Garima is gone."

Sara smiled amusedly. "You're following instructions from Mick now? Never saw that coming."

"Very funny," Leonard deadpanned. "In this case, I think I'd rather do what he says than walk in on whatever they're up to."

"Yeah, that's probably the right decision." She thought for a moment, then changed the subject. "If you've got a minute…do you want to play cards?"

Leonard straightened up and smirked challengingly at her. "I think you mean, do I want to beat you at cards? And the answer is always yes."

Sara rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah, right." She smiled at him and said, "We can play in my room. Is that cool?"

"Absolutely." He stood up and walked over to her. "Let's do this."

He followed her out of the parlor, through the corridors of the Waverider, and into her room. As nice as Sara's room had been on their first mission, Leonard liked it even more now. From the photos on the wall to the furniture choices, everything was just so Sara. She sat on her bed and patted a spot on beside her, inviting him to sit down. He joined her and pulled the box of cards out of his jacket pocket, then shuffled them and began dividing them up. "So…is this about what happened with Ava?" he asked as he placed the rest of the deck between them.

"Why do you always assume it's about something?" Sara asked as she picked up a card from the deck to start the game. "Can't I just play cards with you for fun?"

"Not when you've got that look on your face."

"What look on my face?"

"The 'we need to talk' look. Right there." He pointed at her face, then looked back down at his cards as he took his turn. "If it's not about that, then what is it about?"

Sara picked up a card and leaned back against her pillows as she selected which of her cards she wanted to remove. "Fine, you win. I do want to talk about something."

"Okay. Let's talk."

She set down a card in the discard pile. "You know how Ray wanted to run all those extra tests on you?"

"Like I'm some kind of guinea pig for his experiments? Yeah, that's not happening."

"That's what I heard," Sara said slowly, trying to ease her way into her request. "The thing is, we might actually need you to go through with them. There's some stuff we want to know."

Leonard looked up from his cards and arched his eyebrows in confusion. "Why? I'm alive and everything feels normal. What's left to figure out?"

"What's left," Sara explained, "is that Ray found more temporal energy in your body than should be physically possible. And Director Sharpe has this theory…"

Leonard stiffened. "Director Sharpe has a theory about me," he stated, thinking through the words as he spoke them.

"Yeah." She lowered her eyes back into her cards. "She thinks there's a chance that you might still have some kind of connection to the timeline, like you were never fully separated from it when we pulled you out. I didn't think it made sense at first, but it would explain Ray's findings."

Leonard gave Sara a skeptical look. "It doesn't make sense at all. How can I be part of the timeline and still be living through time? That's ridiculous. Ava doesn't know what she's talking about."

Sara noticed some tension in Leonard's voice as he mentioned Ava. "You know, she's just trying to help. We're on the same team."

"Then she shouldn't have talked to you like that," he replied. "And she shouldn't be telling us what to do. You can tell that to her, and all her Time Master friends."

Sara groaned. "Leonard, she's not a Time Master."

"She shows up on your ship trying to control us and make us do our jobs the way she wants them done. Sounds a lot like a Time Master to me."

"Didn't you encourage me to come clean to her about saving you?" Sara pointed out. "You can't think she's that bad."

"I encouraged you to do what you think is right," he clarified. "I also said not to let someone else run your life, which is exactly what she's trying to do. And now you're telling me that she wants to study me and control me too. Just like a Time Master."

Sara paused a moment, then looked up to hold eye contact with him as she asked, "Would I date a Time Master, Leonard?"

Leonard froze. He stared back at her, but he didn't speak.

Sara didn't back down. "That's what this is about, isn't it?" She set her cards down and sat up straight. Leonard dropped his gaze back into his cards. "Leonard, look at me." He did. "Is that what this is about?" she said, a little more gently than before. "You can tell me."

He thought carefully before answering in a low voice, "I said I wasn't expecting anything from you. I still don't. What else do you want me to say?"

Sara caught a glimpse of that sad look in his eyes again. She knew she wasn't imagining it now, but she really wished she was. "I want you to listen," she said, still speaking in that gentle, understanding tone. "Ava wanted you to go back to the Time Bureau with her, but I talked her out of it because I know how much you hate people you don't trust touching you and getting close to you. I thought you might be more comfortable if you just worked with Ray. Here's the thing: Ava could be wrong, but if she's right, then what we find out might be the key to saving time and stopping Tabitha. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do, but you need to understand that this isn't just about Ava. It's about potentially saving the whole timeline."

Leonard hesitated for a moment before replied, his voice still low, "This is important to you, isn't?"

"Well, if it ends up saving the timeline, then…yeah, I think it is."

He looked away, thinking for a few seconds, then looked back at Sara. "Okay."

She tilted her head curiously. "Okay?"

"Okay," he repeated, a little more confidently the second time.

"You're not going to fight me on this?"

"Not if it's important to you."

"Leonard, seriously, if you're not okay with it…"

"Sara, just take the win. If it's important to you, I'll do it. But with Raymond, not the Time Master wannabes. And speaking of winning…" he flipped over his cards and smirked proudly. "Gin."

Sara huffed. "I was distracted!"

"You sure were," he gloated.

She glared at him, then swept up all the cards into her hands. "Rematch. Now."

He chuckled, very entertained by her competitiveness. "Challenge accepted, Captain."

* * *

"Aw, look at that," Charlie said, eyes still glued to the screen. "He just gave her his jacket even though he's cold too. That's boyfriend material right there."

"Isn't it?" Mona said, placing her hand over her heart dramatically.

Zari looked at Charlie in disbelief. "How are you as into this as Mona is?"

"Because I'm distracting myself from the very depressing knowledge that the woman who forced me to turn into a monster on live TV just reopened the dimension I was imprisoned in," Charlie answered matter-of-factly. Her eyes widened and she pointed forward. "Oh look, they're cuddling for warmth and bonding about death. That's cute." She tossed a piece of popcorn at the screen. "Kiss, you idiots!"

"See?" Mona said smugly. "Even Charlie ships it."

"It's not that I don't ship it," Zari explained. "It's that I don't think Captain Lance and Snart want us digging into their business."

"Maybe not," Charlie admitted, "but it sure is fun to see what the Captain and our newest original were up to back then. Finish this storyline up and then call it a day?"

"Storyline?" Zari repeated questioningly. "You do realize we're literally watching old security footage, right?"

"Sounds good," Mona said, ignoring Zari's comment. "You heard her, Gideon!"

Gideon obediently continued to play the video. On the screen, Sara held on tightly to Leonard's arm as they sat close together on the engine room's floor. The two of them had been stuck in the freezing room for a long time by this point. She was wrapped in his jacket and obviously shivering. Judging by the frosty layer forming on Leonard's face, he wasn't much warmer. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, seemingly trying to take his mind off the cold. When he opened his eyes, he turned to look at Sara and instantly looked worried. "Sara," he whispered. She shivered, but she didn't say a word. His worried look intensified. "Sara? Sara!"

"Mm…Snart?" she said softly.

Leonard reached his opposite hand over and cupped the side of her face, careful not to move the arm she was clinging onto. "Stay with me," he told her firmly, though his voice quivered. It was unclear whether that was because of the freezing temperatures, his emotions, or a combination of both. "You…you have to stay with me. Okay?"

She clung even tighter to his arm. "Too…cold," she murmured. "I…I can't."

"No," he said without hesitating a moment. "You can. I know…I know you can." He watched her shiver again, then wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her close until her head lay against his chest. He held her there tightly, trying to give her what body heat he had. "It's…it's going to be okay," he whispered into her ear as he struggled to keep talking. "You'll…be…okay…"

Sara opened her eyes a little wider and noticed the ice on his face. "You're not okay," she said. "You…you should…your jacket…you need it…"

"No. I…I don't. Captain Cold, remember?" He forced himself to smirk as he made the joke, then wrapped his arms around her just a little bit tighter. "Stay with me, Canary."

Sara lifted her chin up to look him in the eyes. "You're fr…freezing. You could die."

"So could you. Give someone else a…a turn for once."

"N…not funny." She rested her head against his chest again and held onto him the same way he was holding her. When he didn't speak for a while, she whispered his name. "Leonard? You…you okay?" He didn't answer right away. Her eyes widened in horror and she shifted her position so she could look him in the eyes. "Leonard! Say something!"

His eyes were open, but it was clearly taking a lot of energy to keep them that way. "Hey, Sara," he said, eyeing his jacket wrapped around her much smaller body. "That's a…nice look on you."

"Shut up."

"Thought you wanted me t…to say…something."

Sara laughed for a moment before the shivering took over again. She lowered her head to rest it against his chest, clinging tightly to him again. Her eyes slowly started to close as her words trailed off.

Suddenly, the doors of the engine room slid open. There was a faint whirring sound. Although there was no way to see the temperature through the screen, the surprised reaction on Leonard's face indicated that it had stopped dropping. Leonard picked up Sara in his arms and bolted out the door. Gideon's camera switched perspectives to one that was pointed just outside the engine room's exit. Leonard set Sara down on the ground before collapsing himself. He leaned back against the nearest wall, panting as he adjusted to the warm air around him. After a few seconds, he turned to look at Sara, who hadn't moved yet. "No," he whispered fearfully. "No, no, no…" He crawled over to her and checked her pulse, looked a little relieved to discover that it was normal. "Come on, Sara," he pleaded, "I know you're in there. Wake up. Please."

Sara's eyelids fluttered open. She gasped, then rolled sideways to sit up against the wall. "I'm okay," she assured him repeatedly. "I'm fine. I'm okay."

Leonard stared at her in a mixture of awe and concern. "Do you need to go to the med bay? I could take you…"

"No, I don't need that," she replied, catching her breath. "Just let me have a minute to warm up. I'm already feeling better." She looked down at her clothes, then back at him. "You can take your jacket back now."

"Not if you're still cold."

"I'm not. Take it." She shrugged it off her shoulders, then pulled the rest of it off and handed it to him.

He took the jacket in his hands but didn't put it on right away. Instead, he just stared at it as if he had just had a massive realization. Eventually, he turned his head to look back at Sara, his expression unchanged. He didn't voice his thoughts, but from the look on his face, there was definitely a storm of emotions of some kind going on in his mind.

She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "You good?"

He blinked himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah…yeah, I'm all right." He finally put the jacket back on.

Ray and a woman Charlie recognized from the Old Western photo ran onto the scene. "Snart! Sara!" the woman exclaimed, seeing them. "We were so worried about you. Are you okay?"

Sara and Leonard exchanged glances. Then, Sara pushed herself to her feet and stood up. "We're okay, but I don't know how much longer we would've lasted. Thanks for getting it open."

"Attention," Gideon's voice echoed through the space around them. "Someone is attempting to board the ship through the cargo bay door."

Leonard jumped to his feet. "Someone? Who? Mick and the others?"

"Or time pirates?" Sara added without missing a beat.

"One way to find out," Ray answered. "Let's go." All four of them hurried out of the area to investigate.

Gideon turned off the screen. Mona, Zari, and Charlie all stared at each other silently for a few moments. None of them knew what to say. Mona eventually broke the silence. "So…are we all on the same page now?"

Zari answered with only a little bit of reluctance, "I...I guess we are."

"Definitely," Charlie said. "He's crazy about her. It was all over his face. And she didn't seem to mind it much either."

"There's just one thing, though," Zari pointed out. "This all happened three years ago. Things aren't going to automatically go back to the way they were that long ago. I mean, Sara just went through a huge breakup. You guys don't really expect them to pick up exactly where they left off, do you?"

"Hm…you've got a point," Charlie conceded. "But there's no harm in finding out as much as we can about what's going on between them. We need a little fun now and then between all the doom and gloom about the timeline."

"Exactly," Mona agreed. "Nothing wrong with figuring out what's going on with Snart."

* * *

"What is going on with Snart?" Ava muttered to herself. She sat in her office, tapping her pen anxiously against her desk as she scrolled through the Time Bureau's digital records on her computer. "Who is this guy?"

She heard a knock at the door. Without waiting to be called in, Gary entered. "Hi, Director Sharpe," he greeted her. "How is everything?"

Ava looked up to acknowledge him, then went back to scrolling. "Under the circumstances, fine. What did you want to see me about, Gary?"

Gary walked up to her desk. "Oh, you know, just checking in. The Library of Congress is all cleaned up and the necessary paperwork has been filed."

"Good."

"And, um, there's still no sign of Tabitha. We sent a team to Paul Christian's address, but he was gone without a trace."

"Not so good."

"Yeah. Otherwise, not much news." He paused, waiting for her to say something, but she remained focused on her computer. He cleared his throat. "Director Sharpe?"

She looked up. "Yes, Gary?"

"I was going to ask if you needed anything else from me. You know, reports, meetings, advice about Captain Lance…"

"I don't need advice about Captain Lance," Ava said quickly. Her eyes widened as an idea formed in her head. "Actually, Gary…there might be something you can do for me."

"Oh, great!" Gary replied enthusiastically. "Happy to help. What is it?"

Ava sat up in her chair and folded her hands on the desk in front of her. "Does the name 'Leonard Snart' mean anything to you?"

Gary thought for a moment. "Hm…I thought I heard someone mention him while I was on the Waverider. I haven't met him personally, though."

"Right," Ava said. "I need you to do a very simple job for me. Don't tell the Legends. This is just between us." She leaned forward slightly. "Find out as much as you can about Leonard Snart."

He looked at her curiously. "Why? Who is he? Aside from someone the Legends know, I mean."

"He's someone Captain Lance is hiding things about," Ava answered. "She's been hiding him from me until now and I need to know why. I already searched for him in all our digital records, but he disappeared before Rip founded the Bureau, so there's nothing substantial. Find out everything you can and then tell me. Okay?"

Gary shrugged. "Okay. You're the boss. I just don't see why it has to be a secret."

"Because Captain Lance is keeping secrets," Ava replied. "She doesn't trust me with him, and I don't think he trusts me either. If that's how they want to do this, I'll play their game." She gave Gary a look daring him to disagree. "Do you understand, Gary?"

He nodded obediently. "Yes, Director Sharpe. You can count on me."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for all the nice feedback! I'm not going to rely too much on Gideon's security footage flashbacks for the story, but there are a few moments I thought of that I just really wanted to work in, so it'll happen at least a couple more times. The next mission will start soon and it'll be a big one for Snart, so I'm looking forward to writing it. Thanks for reading!**


	32. Snart's Sibling Search

Leonard stood in the parlor, pacing impatiently. It was just early enough in the morning for the ship to be quiet and chaos-free, but he knew he only had so much time until that changed. Finally, the screen on the wall connected to S.T.A.R. Labs and Cisco's face appeared.

"Yo, what's up?" Cisco asked, seeming a little surprised by the call. "Is it crossover season already?"

"No," Snart replied, no longer pacing, "and I think you know that's not what I'm calling about."

Cisco nodded, a look of understanding crossing his face. "Oh…yeah, that makes sense." He took a sip from the coffee mug next to him, then said, "Still nothing."

Snart frowned. "You're sure about that?"

"Not a word," Cisco replied. "No arrests, no news reports, no surveillance footage, nada."

"And you checked everywhere?"

"Everywhere I could think of." Cisco leaned back in his chair. "Dude, I'm sure she's fine. Lisa's smart. She knows how to take care of herself out there."

"She also thinks I'm dead," Snart pointed out.

"Well…yeah, that's true." Cisco paused thoughtfully, then continued sincerely, "Listen, man, I get it. You care about her, so finding her is important to you. I'm keeping an eye out like I said, and I'll definitely let you know if I hear from her. But other than that, I don't know what to tell you."

Leonard glanced down at the floor, thinking. He looked back up again at Cisco. "What about your powers?" he asked. "What do you call them? 'Vibes'?"

Cisco raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What? I never told you about…"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Cisco, I kept tabs on just about everything Team Flash did for two years. Did you really think I wouldn't notice you were a meta?"

"Uh…I guess not," Cisco replied sheepishly. "There's just one problem with that, though."

"What?"

"I kind of got rid of my powers."

Snart's brow furrowed. He narrowed his eyes at Cisco. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Cisco answered, "it's a long story, but there was this villain trying to kill metahumans, so we developed a cure that could remove a meta's powers if they didn't want them, which would prevent them from being targeted. Along the way, I started thinking that I'd like to have a normal life again, so…"

"I'm sorry, did you say 'normal'?" Snart asked dryly. "Did you forget that you build tech for a crime-fighting speedster?"

"_Relatively_ normal," Cisco corrected himself. "Anyway, I took the cure. No more vibes. Sorry, man."

Snart groaned. "Great," he muttered. "The one time I actually want help from one of you meta heroes, you lose your powers."

"Hey, it's not like I knew you'd be looking for Lisa," Cisco replied defensively. "I didn't even know you were alive."

"And neither does Lisa," Leonard growled.

"I know." Cisco sighed. "Look, you said that if she was ever in trouble and couldn't reach you, then she'd find a way to ask me for help. Isn't that right?"

Leonard continued to glare at Cisco. "Yes," he admitted.

"Well, if she hasn't come to me for help, then maybe we should take that as a sign that she's not in trouble."

"That who's not in trouble?" Sara's voice asked from behind Snart.

He froze for a second, then said, "Bye, Cisco."

"What?" Cisco reacted with confusion. "I wasn't—"

Leonard hung up. He turned around to face Sara. She cleared her throat, waiting for him to answer her question. When he didn't, she asked, "You were talking about Lisa, weren't you?"

"What if I was?" he asked her back, deliberately avoiding a direct answer.

Sara took a step forward toward him. "There's nothing wrong with being worried about her," she said. "You don't need to hide that from me."

He glanced away, then back at her. "Maybe not, but I don't need the rest of the team getting involved. This is a family issue. I just want to know where she is, and I want her to know that I'm alive."

"Okay," Sara replied slowly. "So that means you're only keeping your little calls to Cisco a secret because of privacy…and not because you don't want the Legends to know that you're scared?"

Leonard's cold, emotionless expression faltered for a moment. There were very few people he was comfortable being vulnerable or open with. Sara and Mick were among them, but the rest of the Legends weren't quite at that level. _That's Sara_, he thought. _Seeing right through me, as usual_. "I never said I was scared," he told her.

"But you are. I know that because I know you, and I know how much you want to protect your little sister." She walked up the steps into the parlor as she continued, "You don't have to tell the rest of the Legends, but there's no point in hiding it from someone who already knows." She thought for a moment, then asked curiously, "Can Cisco really not find her? I thought he could hack anything."

"That would imply there's information out there for him to hack," Leonard replied. "Lisa hasn't left a trace."

Sara let out a low whistle. "Wow. She is good."

Leonard's mouth curved up into a proud half-smile. "I taught her well." His smile faded and he grew serious again. "My sister's a tough kid. This isn't the first time we've been separated. She's taken care of herself before."

"But?"

Leonard hesitated, reluctant to admit that there was a "but" at all. However, he knew he could only avoid Sara's expectant gaze for so long. "But…never for three years."

"And never with her honestly believing you were dead, I would assume," Sara added.

He nodded. "Yeah."

Sara offered him a sympathetic smile. "You're a good brother, Leonard. You taught her everything she knows. Have a little faith that she hasn't forgotten it. But, you know," she said, inching forward just a little bit closer to him, "if you are scared, that's totally normal. If I thought there was any chance that Laurel was still out there, I'd be doing the same thing you are, and I'd probably be just as terrified that something could've happened to her." Her eyes widened and she quickly added, "Not that I don't think Lisa's okay! I'm sure she is. I just meant…"

"I know what you meant," Leonard said calmly. "If anyone was going to understand, it would be you." He dropped his gaze to the floor. "Just don't tell the Legends. Not yet, anyway. They don't need to know."

"They could help," Sara pointed out.

"They don't need to know," Leonard reiterated as he looked back up sharply, still very uncomfortable at the thought of letting people he had only recently met know about something so personal.

Sara backed off. "Okay. They don't need to know." She paused, then continued, "Do you need a little more time with Cisco? Or are you free now?"

Leonard shrugged. "He said everything he was going to say. Why?"

Sara tilted her head toward the outside of the parlor. "The rest of the team is eating breakfast, so I thought we'd go ahead and have our team meeting in the galley. If you're not ready to do something else, though, I could update you later."

"That's all right," he assured her. "I could use the distraction anyway."

"Cool." She smiled warmly and nudged him gently in the arm. "Come on." She turned around and started to walk out. Leonard hurried after her until he caught up, walking side by side with her to find the rest of the team.

* * *

"I'm not putting butter in my coffee," Mick stated bluntly with a scowl in Ray's direction, "and you can't make me."

"Nobody's making you," Ray said as he stirred his own mug of coffee on the counter. "I just think you'd like it. It really brings out the…"

"No butter, Haircut," Mick repeated emphatically. "I don't care what you think it brings out."

"Leave him alone, Mick," Zari said from her seat at the table as she bit into her breakfast donut. "He's just being a harmless health nerd."

Ray smiled sweetly. "Thank you."

Zari waved her donut at him. "Still not taking your advice, though."

John waved his pack of cigarettes from where he stood leaning against the wall. "Me neither, mate."

"Okay," Zari said, turning to look at John, "that's different. Smoking is actually bad for you."

"Worse than traveling to Hell?" he asked. "You're the mathematical one here, love. If we counted all the souls who went to Hell, and all the ones who smoked, which do you think has a higher survival rate?"

Zari rolled her eyes and groaned. "Ugh, come on, John. That's the worst argument ever."

"Don't you still do both, though?" Mona asked as she took a seat at the table. "I feel like that undermines your point."

"Not from my perspective, love," John replied.

Nora sighed from her seat beside Zari. "Can we maybe focus on what needs to get done instead of arguing?"

Charlie pointed at her from across the table. "I'm with Little Miss Magic on this one."

"Not without Captain Lance," Nate replied. "She said she was on her way over."

"And Snart," Ray added. "Mick, do you know where he is?"

Mick didn't look up from his food as he answered, "Wherever Sara is, probably."

Zari, Charlie, and Mona exchanged quick glances, but none of them said a word. Ray noticed. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Charlie asked.

"That little eye contact thing," Ray replied. "Do you guys have an inside joke or something?"

"Nope," Zari said as she stuffed the rest of the donut into her mouth. "No idea what you're talking about."

Just then, Sara and Snart walked into the kitchen together. "Good morning, Legends," Sara greeted the rest of the group. She strolled forward until she was standing near the table. Leonard followed her and stood behind her, leaning back against the wall behind them so he didn't tower over her. "Let's get this meeting started," she said.

Mick grunted disapprovingly. "Can't even eat without one of your meetings ruining it," he grumbled.

Sara rolled her eyes and continued as if he hadn't complained. "First order of business: today's mission. I asked Nate to search for major anomalies caused by rifts, preferably recently detected ones that haven't solidified yet. Nate, what've you got?"

"Well," Nate answered, "I found a few options, but while I was searching, Gideon detected a new anomaly forming that I think could be really big."

"Where and when is it?" Sara asked.

"The Imperial Court of Vienna, 1762," he replied, starting to get visibly excited as he explained. "The exact results of the anomaly aren't clear yet because it's a relatively new one and hasn't solidified, but based on the date of the anomaly and the few known factors surrounding it, I've deduced that it could have a huge historical impact on a certain young musician who's set to perform there on that day."

"And why are you history fanboying?" Zari asked.

"Because it's not just any musician," Nate said enthusiastically. "It's six-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!"

Ray sat up straight. "Whoa! Seriously?_ The_ Mozart?"

"Yep," Nate answered. "_The_ Mozart. Something is happening in 1762 that could alter his future as a world-famous performer and composer. If we do this mission, we'll basically be saving the entire history of Western classical music. Or at least from Mozart onward, which is a big chunk of it. Pretty awesome, right?"

"Sure is, buddy," Ray said, reaching over to give his best friend a high five.

"We're calling child endangerment awesome now?" Leonard drawled from behind Sara with a pointed look at Nate and Ray. "And they say I'm the bad guy."

"It's not," Nate clarified. "But potentially saving Mozart and his entire legacy is."

"Question," Nora asked, raising her hand to get the group's attention. "Did you say you found the anomaly on its own? Or was it on Gideon's list of rifts?"

"The first one," Nate clarified. "I started by looking through the rifts we know of, but while I was searching, Gideon detected this change. Technically, I haven't found the matching rift yet, but there has to be one. I mean, there are so many out there. Odds are at least one of them popped up in 1762. And even if there isn't – which I doubt – that means someone or something else is still tampering with history. It's our job to stop that no matter what. Isn't that right, Captain?"

"It is," Sara agreed. "So you're saying that something is changing in the timeline that could screw with little Mozart's musical future – most likely the product of a rift – and we need to pay 1762 a visit to find out exactly what it is."

"Precisely," Nate said with a nod.

"Sounds like a big mission," Sara continued. She looked carefully at each member of her team as she formed a plan. "Since we don't know what happened, we need to be careful not to cause any more damage than there already is. Plus, dealing with kids is always a little more sensitive. We'll start with a small team to assess the situation, then figure out if backup is necessary." She pointed to John, then Mona, then Nate, and finally Mick. "You four take the jump ship to Vienna. Bring the temporal energy gun with you. If you need backup, we'll meet you there."

"Why don't we all go together on the Waverider?" Mona asked.

"Because I have to run software updates on Gideon," Zari answered. "She's been due for a while now, so I planned on doing it today. Gideon can still run the updates while time traveling, but if we make a really big jump – like one that goes back to the mid-1700s – before they're finished, the process will take longer."

"Exactly," Sara agreed. "Stay in contact with us. I'll coordinate everything from the ship. We'll still be able to join you if you need help. In the meantime, Zari has to finish her updates, and Ray and Snart have some work to do in the lab." She glanced back at Snart for a moment before turning to the group and adding, "Charlie and Nora, you two can find ways to help around the ship for now and stand by for instructions in case something comes up."

"It probably will," Charlie added.

"Definitely will," Zari agreed.

"Everyone good?" Sara asked, making brief eye contact with each Legend. When no one objected, she grinned and said, "Then let's get to work. Zari, head to the engine room. Ray, prepare the lab for whatever tests you need to do. Snart, you can join him when he's ready. Nora and Charlie, hang tight. Nate, Mick, Mona, and John…I hope you remember all your scales and arpeggios, because you're going to go protect a prodigy."

Nate grinned. "Now that's a send-off! You had alliteration and everything." He walked briskly out of the room, loudly whistling Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" as he went.

It wasn't long before most of the Legends followed his lead and moved from the galley to their assigned locations. Eventually, only Sara and Leonard were left. She turned around to face him while he continued to lean against the wall behind her. "Well," she said to him, "this seems like it could be an interesting mission."

"Are you sure those four are qualified babysitters?" Leonard asked skeptically.

"Would you prefer I sent you instead?" she asked.

"Compared to spending the day being Raymond's lab rat for a crap ton of science that's probably unnecessary anyway? Yeah, I think I would. In fact, there's not much I wouldn't prefer over that."

Sara crossed her arms and smirked at him teasingly. "Are you trying to back out, Leonard? And here I thought you were a man of your word."

"Who said I wasn't?" He looked her in the eyes earnestly. "You asked me to do one thing for you. I have every intention of going through with it."

"Good," she said, relaxing her stance. She spotted that special, admiring spark in his eyes and felt something like butterflies in her stomach for barely a moment, but she immediately told herself that it was nothing. She blinked herself back into the moment and continued, "In that case, I'll do a little research on the situation for the away team, and then I'll see you in the lab." She spun around and walked out into the hallway, disappearing from Leonard's view.


	33. Wolfgang Amadeus

"Director Sharpe?" Gary said, poking his head into Ava's office. "Are you in there?"

Ava looked up from the stack of reports on her desk. "Come on in, Gary."

He walked fully inside, balancing a large binder clumsily in his arms as he approached her. "Good morning, Director," he said cheerily. "I heard you got in extra early today. Do you need anything? Coffee?"

Ava pointed to the nearly empty coffee mug on her desk. "Already taken care of. And it's fine, I just had a ton of paperwork to get through for some construction in Heyworld. I've got enough on my plate with all the rifts without adding a million permits for a magic city on top of it." She sighed exhaustedly, then looked up at the binder in Gary's hands. "What's that?"

He held it out to her with a grand, dramatic gesture. "The answers to your questions! Well, some of them, anyway."

Ava took the binder and opened it to the first page. Her eyes widened as she read it. She looked back up at Gary. "These are all of Leonard Snart's records," she said.

"Yes…ish."

"Ish?"

"Well, it's very strange," Gary explained, "but I noticed while searching that, while I could easily access information about him from 2015 and 2016, nothing was available before that. It was like he never existed before 2015."

Ava raised her eyebrows. "What? That's impossible. Of course he existed."

"Oh, I'm sure he did," Gary clarified. "After a little digging, I came to the conclusion that, at some point in early 2015, all online records of Leonard Snart were erased. I don't know if he erased them, or if someone else did, but that's the only explanation that would make sense. Fortunately," he said reassuringly, "we work at a time travel agency, which means that's not really a problem for us."

Ava smiled, more impressed than she wanted to admit. "Nice work, Gary. What did you do? Recalibrate our servers with time travel technology to access the internet on a date before the records probably disappeared?"

Gary nodded proudly. "Yep! IT is still processing it, but by the end of the day, we should have access to all of his information pre-2015. Of course," he added with a little hesitation, "if I could use Gideon, we would have access immediately. Her historical research technology is unparalleled even by the Bureau…"

"I said not to involve the Legends, Gary," Ava reminded him sternly.

"Right." He looked down sheepishly, dropping his argument. "Well…what you have in front of you is everything I could find from 2015 and on. It's not much, but there are some pretty major things in there."

"Like what?"

"Open it," Gary urged. "You'll see."

Ava rolled her eyes. "Gary, not everything has to be a dramatic reveal." She turned to the second page of the binder and read it through. Her eyes grew wide again and she straightened up in her chair and gasped. "Arrested for the murder of Lewis Snart," she read aloud. "Apprehended by the Flash after killing his father during an attempted robbery." She faced Gary again. "He's a murderer. We have a murderer running loose through time and space." She skimmed through the next few pages. "That's not to mention all the other crimes this says he's wanted for. Theft, destruction of property, escape from prison, breaking and entering, more theft…and that's all just from two years. Why?" she asked herself, forgetting for a moment that Gary was in the room. "Why would Captain Lance ever let a guy like this near her?"

"Um…why are we talking about Captain Lance?" Gary asked confusedly.

Ava frowned at him. "I told you before. She's been keeping secrets about him. Now, I think I know why." She closed the binder and took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts before continuing. "She didn't want to tell me that she was bringing him back because she knew I wouldn't approve of a criminal like him joining the Legends. Think about it: on the Waverider, Leonard Snart has access to all of Gideon's resources. Someone with a record like this," she tapped on the closed binder with her finger, "shouldn't have that kind of power. It's a disaster waiting to happen."

Gary thoughtfully considered her words for a moment, then responded, "What about Mick Rory?"

"What about him?" Ava asked, surprised at the question.

"Well, he was a pretty bad guy before, wasn't he?" Gary shrugged optimistically. "If he's a good Legend now, then maybe Leonard Snart will be the same. I mean, Rip did recruit both of them, didn't he? Maybe Snart is good now, too."

Ava glanced down at the binder, then back at Gary. "Anything is possible," she said slowly, "but here's the difference between Leonard Snart and Mick Rory: we _know_ Mick. We have worked with him for years. We've seen him cooperate, however reluctantly, with the Bureau, and we know that, at the end of the day, with enough direction from the other Legends, he will usually do the right thing. Usually. Snart on the other hand? We know nothing about him except the fact that Rip decided he would be useful against Vandal Savage for some reason, the fact that Captain Lance decided not to tell me anything about him even when she was putting the whole timeline at risk for his sake, and the things in this binder. I can only work with the information I have, and so far, none of it makes me want to trust him." She paused thoughtfully, then continued in a quieter voice, "All the same, she cares about him. I don't know why. He's uncooperative, arrogant, and incredibly disrespectful. But as soon as he's back in her life, protecting him – a murderous criminal – suddenly becomes priority number one for her? I just…I just don't get it."

Gary grew concerned as he listened to his boss ramble. He inched closer to the desk. "Are you okay, Director Sharpe? You sound a little, uh…tense."

She blinked, then shrugged dismissively. "I'm fine, Gary."

"Are you sure?" He leaned in toward the desk. "No judgment or anything, but obsessing over murderers is kind of your thing. You might be slipping into that just a smidge." He held up his thumb and index finger with a very small space between them. "A very tiny smidge."

"What? Me? Obsessed?" Ava scoffed. "The only thing I'm interested in is making sure a very dangerous person isn't tearing down everything the Legends and the Bureau have worked for. That's called doing my job, not obsessing. If anything, I'm trying to prevent Captain Lance's obsession with protecting and hiding Snart from derailing our shared mission to repair time."

Gary hesitated. "I understand that, and you know I have nothing but respect for you and the way you run this Bureau. That being said, isn't this slightly overkill? It just seems like you're a little too focused on Captain Lance's involvement with him. Maybe you could use a little space from working with her, and that's coming from someone who is _very_ much still shipping you two."

"I can work with Captain Lance," Ava insisted. "I just want to understand what's going on with Snart. Things aren't adding up and I want to know why. It's for her sake, too. He's dangerous. He could harm her, not to mention the rest of the Legends and the timeline."

Gary nodded understandingly, no longer putting up a fight against his boss. "I see. So, uh, what are you going to do about that?"

"There's not much I can do at the moment," she said, sounding a little disappointed about that fact. "IT is still digging up his other records. I'm not going to rush in and react without all the information, especially while Captain Lance is on his side. Until I'm sure I've fully assessed everything, I just need to keep an eye out for trouble from him."

"That makes sense," Gary replied. "In that case, will you need anything else from me?"

"No, thanks," Ava said. As Gary turned to leave, she changed her mind. "Wait! There's one other thing you can do. It's a little out of the ordinary, so don't feel obligated if it's too much trouble."

"Of course," he said eagerly, dropping all previous signs of concern. "You know I love getting special missions, Director. What is it? A secret task force? An undercover investigation? A little magic? I am an intern of the dark arts, you know." He grinned proudly as he mentioned the title given to him by John Constantine.

Ava's serious face broke into an amused half-smile. "Oh, Gary. You really do live for the drama." She opened the binder again and skimmed the first page. "This says Snart lived in Central City his whole life. He may have been able to erase evidence of his existence from the internet, but he couldn't possibly erase the memories of every single person he interacted with in his hometown." She looked back up at Gary. "I want you to go to Central City. Ask around about him. Figure out where he used to hang out, who he associated with, what else people knew about him. Anything. No need to spend more than a day, though. I need you back here with all the work that's piling up. Just take today and report what you find tomorrow morning."

"Ah, a quick trip to Central City," Gary said. "Excellent. I always love an excuse to play tourist." He quickly added, "Not that I'd actually be one, of course. I'll be strictly in business mode all day. Very professional."

"Uh-huh," Ava said, squinting at him skeptically.

"In fact," he said, "I'll prove it by going right now. That'll give me the whole day to do my very serious, not at all touristy work."

"Gary, you don't have to…"

He opened a portal with his time courier. "Off I go," he said cheerfully. "Time for a very important mission that I am not at all going to be distracted from. Bye, Director Sharpe!" He waved at her, then stepped into the portal to present-day Central City, letting it close behind him the second he was through.

* * *

Leonard studied the various machines and medical equipment surrounding Ray in the lab suspiciously. "Wow. You've really gone full mad scientist, haven't you?"

Ray simply smiled back patiently. "Oh, Snart. Always ready with the one-liners. I didn't realize how much I missed that."

"You're too sweet," Leonard said, his voice completely deadpan.

"Anyway," Ray said, moving on, "this should all be pretty easy. Some of it might feel weird, but it shouldn't hurt. I think."

Leonard arched his eyebrows skeptically. "You think?"

"Don't panic, Snart," Nora said from where she stood against the nearest wall. "Ray knows what he's doing."

"He'd better," Leonard muttered. He then turned to face Nora. "And what are you doing here?"

She waved at him. "Sara said to make myself useful, so I'm going to be Ray's lab assistant for the day."

Ray grinned at her. "Cutest lab assistant ever."

She blushed. "Oh, stop."

"I mean it, Nora."

"You're such a dork. But I love you."

"Aw, I love you too!"

_I still don't understand this_, Leonard thought as his eyes darted back and forth between the couple. "Yeah, whatever," he said, changing the subject. "Can we just get this over with?"

"Sure," Ray said, still smiling. "Just have a seat over here." He gestured to a chair beside the nearest table. "And then we can get started." Leonard sat down as directed. Ray was honestly surprised at how little convincing that took. He looked back at Nora. "Babe, can you get the tray of supplies on my desk? The big one?" While she obeyed, he faced Leonard again. "You're going to need to take your jacket off, or at least roll up your sleeves."

Leonard scowled and stiffened uncomfortably. "Why?"

"Because I need to take a blood sample, and the best place to get it from is your arm. I can't exactly reach the spot with three layers of clothes over it."

Leonard sighed. "Fine." He reluctantly removed his jacket and rolled up just enough of the two remaining layers covering his right arm to give Ray the access he needed.

While Ray prepared the test, Sara stuck her head in through the doorway. Leonard looked up as soon as he noticed her, glad to be distracted from Ray getting ready to poke him in the arm. "Ah, Captain," Leonard said. "I trust nothing's blown up in the team's collective faces yet?"

She smiled amusedly. "No, but it's still early." She stepped inside but stayed close to the doorway. "I just thought I'd check in on you after sending the away team off. How's everything going?"

"Hold still," Ray said quietly. "It shouldn't be too bad…"

"I'm not scared of needles, Raymond," Leonard said, rolling his eyes. "Do I look like a kid to you?" Ray decided not to respond and silently inserted the needle into Leonard's arm. Leonard winced, more as a reaction to Ray touching his bare skin than the actual pricking sensation of the needle, and then looked back at Sara. "Which do you think is more likely: Mick stealing everything worth anything in that palace, or just burning the whole thing down?"

"I would hope that Nate, Mona, and John will stop him from doing either of those things," she replied.

"They can try."

"They'd better try." She took a step back toward the doorway. "I'll be back later. Let me know if you need any help in here."

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "Where are you going?"

"To check on Zari's progress," she answered. "You're not the only teammate I have to keep out of trouble, you know." She smirked jokingly at him, then turned around and left the room.

* * *

Mick fidgeted in his seat in the jump ship. He was dressed in elegant enough attire to fit in at the Imperial Court, and it was clearly making him uncomfortable. "I'm not wearing a stupid wig," he said grumpily.

"It's part of the look," Mona insisted, trying to hand the powdered wig he had discarded back to him. "You need it."

"She's right," Nate said from the pilot's seat without looking back. "Walking around with a bald head would make you stick out like a sore thumb. Even kids wore wigs in places as fancy as this."

John looked down at his own outfit and examined it. "This still feel like too much, mate."

"Why?" Mona asked. "I think you look good."

"I look good in everything, love," John replied. "But I'd look better in a trench coat."

"Once again, Constantine, no one would wear a trench coat at the Imperial Court of Vienna in 1762," Nate stated, repeating himself for at least the third time since getting into the jump ship.

John crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Bloody costumes."

"Why is this such a big deal to you, Pretty?" Mick asked. "At least Elvis was rock and roll. This is the kind of music that puts you to sleep. Boring."

"First of all, there's nothing boring about it," Nate corrected him. "Second, you'd be surprised how much influence classical music has had on pop culture." A green light flashed on the dashboard in front of Nate. "Yes! We're here," he announced. He flipped a switch on the right side of the dashboard. "Cloaking is on. Prepare to land."

Nate guided the jump ship down into an open space in what appeared to be a very large, extravagant garden. As they stepped out of the cloaked ship, they found themselves surrounded by carefully trimmed hedges and rose bushes. "Okay," Mona said, looking around slowly. "What do we look for first? The rift, or Mozart?"

"We'd better make sure the kid's safe," John said. "If whatever the rift spat out already got to him, we'll have a lot more to fix."

The group heard high-pitched laughter and froze. Out from behind one of the rose bushes ran a very small boy in a tailored blue suit appropriate for the mid-1700s. He stared at them for a second, then laughed again and ran toward them. "Hello!" he said, grinning ear to ear. The Legends had taken pills produced by Gideon that allowed them to communicate with locals as if in English, but they could still hear a German accent in his tiny voice. "Did you see my sister?"

The four of them exchanged confused glances. "Uh…no?" Nate answered, speaking for the group.

The boy held a finger to his lips. "Shh! Hide and seek." He sprinted away and disappeared behind another rose bush.

"Aw, that was so cute," Mona cooed. After a beat, her eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Wait! Guys! _That_ was Mozart!"

Nate facepalmed. "It totally was. How did I miss that?"

"Should we follow him?" Mick asked.

"Absolutely," Nate replied. "We can't let anything happen to that little guy. He could be in trouble."

Nate led the group around the rose bushes. The boy had already moved on, but they spotted the end of his little blue coattails as he rounded a hedge corner across the garden. They followed him at a slight distance to avoid suspicion, paying close attention to his behavior.

"He seems normal," Mona observed.

"Yeah, for a six-year-old," Constantine agreed. "He's just running around having a good time."

"Doesn't seem like he's in danger," Mick pointed out.

"Well, if we leave without finding whatever got through the rift, it might not stay that way," Nate argued.

"Wolfgang!" they heard a loud voice call out. "Where are you?" The Legends ducked behind a nearby hedge to avoid being seen as the little boy ran out of hiding and into the open. A tall man entered the garden with a stern look on his face. "Wolfgang," the man scolded, "you have been outside for too long. It's time to practice."

The young musician pouted. "But father, I have to find Nannerl. It's hide and seek!"

"Nannerl needs to practice as well," his father replied. "She will join you soon. You both have a big night tonight and I will not have you show up ill-prepared."

"But I haven't found her yet."

"You can play with your sister after you have shown the nobles your talent. Now, come."

Wolfgang continued to pout but did as his father said. He followed him inside, dragging his feet but not otherwise resisting. After the boy had entered the nearest building, his father turned to a servant standing by the door and said, "My daughter is somewhere in the gardens. If you see her, send her inside immediately." The servant nodded obediently.

Nate peeked over the top of the hedge at the elegant building a short distance away. "New plan," he said quietly, ducking back down behind the hedge. "We go inside, then split up. Two of us can stick around the Mozart family and make sure nothing happens to little Wolfgang while he's practicing. The other two can search the palace for the rift. Deal?"

"Deal," the other three Legends said simultaneously.

Since they were already within the outer boundaries of the estate and dressed to blend in with the other courtiers and guests around, entering the indoor section from the garden wasn't very difficult, although it did involve behaving as inconspicuously as possible while avoiding eye contact with the servants. Once inside, Mona and John went one way to follow Wolfgang while Nate and Mick headed the opposite direction in search of the rift.

* * *

Mick and Nate strolled unassumingly through the many corridors of the elegant palace. Once they began to encounter more people, Mick reluctantly took Nate's advice and donned the powdered wig he had so adamantly fought against. "All these people here to see some kids' recital," he said. "Sounds dumb. And boring."

"It's not, Mick," Nate assured him, scanning the walls and ceiling carefully for anything that looked similar to a rift. "The Mozart children are like rock stars. Cute, small, very young rock stars. Hey!" He paused his search as he noticed Mick reaching for a decorative porcelain vase toward the far side of the corridor. He ran over to him and pushed his hands away. "You can't go around robbing palaces, dude," he hissed. "A guard could see you."

"Well, I don't see a rift to shut," Mick argued, "so what else am I going to do?"

"Hm...how about not stealing?"

Mick grunted and muttered something unintelligible. "Why don't you try calling somebody?" he asked. "Then we'd know if we're near the rift and can finish this whole thing faster."

Nate's face brightened. He snapped his fingers. "That's genius, Mick! I knew I could count on you." He activated his comms and called Mick. "Are you picking this up?" he asked. "Or is it static?"

Mick listened for a moment. "Yeah, I hear you. Through the thing and your voice."

"Okay," Nate said with a nod. "That means the rift is still far away." He spun around, taking one last look at the area, then pointed forward. "Let's keep going. We can keep checking comms until we find it. Mick!" He reached out and pulled Mick's arm away from a very valuable-looking bust. "No stealing."

"Not even a little?"

"No."

Mick scowled. "We'd better find that rift soon, then, Pretty. Being in a place like this without stealing might be even more boring than classical music."

"It's not bor– you know what? We're going to move on." Nate pointed down the corridor again. "Let's go." The two of them continued on their way through the palace, checking their comms frequently.

* * *

Mona and Constantine wandered the hallways, weaving between elegantly clothed nobles and their guests. After some time, they heard the sound of a harpsichord being played. They followed that sound until they located the room Wolfgang was practicing in. It was behind an ornate door that was cracked just enough for them to see inside when they stood close to it. Wolfgang concluded his piece, then hopped off the bench and bowed grandly to his father, who was watching him closely.

"Aw, look at that," Mona whispered, leaning in toward Constantine. "Isn't he adorable? He's so tiny. And he's got his little suit and his chubby cheeks…"

Constantine rolled his eyes, then shrugged and said, "I don't care how cute he is, but the child's got talent. Anyone with ears can tell."

Wolfgang's father nodded approvingly at him as the boy straightened up from his bow. "Not bad. You've improved greatly since last time."

"Can I look for Nannerl now?" Wolfgang asked. "Please?"

"You have three more pieces to practice for tonight," his father reminded him. "They must be perfect before you perform them at court."

"Why isn't Nannerl practicing too?" Wolfgang asked. He stomped his tiny feet. "It's not fair!"

"Behave yourself, Wolfgang," his father warned. "Your sister will practice as soon as she comes back inside. Her delays do not excuse you from your responsibilities. Both of you are performing tonight, not just her. Now, next piece."

Wolfgang sat back down in position to play. He took a breath as if about to start, but then he stopped himself. He turned to face his father. "I can't play without Nannerl," he stated. "I can't. I won't."

"Why not?" his father asked. "The next piece is not a duet."

"I can't," Wolfgang replied, which was seemed to be reason enough in his six-year-old mind.

"Yes, you can."

"No!"

His father sighed exasperatedly. "Very well. I will go out and look for her myself. But if I come back inside and I do not hear you practicing…" He didn't finish his sentence, but the grave look on his face was enough to do so on its own.

Mona and John quickly darted out of the way as the man approached the door they were peering in through. They hid around the corner until they heard his footsteps leave the hallway. Once he was gone, they stepped back toward the door. "Talk about a stage dad," John muttered.

"At least Wolfgang seems fine," Mona said. "Whatever the rift let in, it hasn't affected him."

"Psst!" they heard Nate's voice hiss. They turned around and saw Nate and Mick walking briskly toward them. "Did you find Mozart?" Nate asked once he was closer. "Wolfgang, I mean. Not his dad."

John nodded his head toward the door behind them, which was still cracked open. The young musician had begun practicing again and the sound was clearly audible. "In there, mate."

"What about the rift?" Mona asked. "Did you guys find it?"

Nate activated his comms. "Have we found it Mick?"

Mick listened to his own comms for a second, then replied, "Nope."

Nate shrugged. "Well, there you go." He gestured around the hallway. "Obviously, we haven't covered the whole space yet. This place is huge. But we have covered a good chunk and still haven't found anything."

"Didn't you say you never found a rift matching this anomaly on the list?" John asked. "Sounds to me like there might not be one at all."

Mick grimaced menacingly at Nate. "You better not have wasted my time, Pretty. I could've been stealing all day instead of your wild goose chase."

"It's not a wild goose chase!" Nate insisted. "Gideon definitely detected that something was wrong on this day and at this location."

"Then Gideon's wrong," Mick said, still grimacing.

"Gideon's never wrong," Mona replied. "Maybe whatever happened is so tiny, it didn't really affect anything. After all, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary."

"This is most out of the ordinary," Wolfgang's father's voice echoed through the space. The Legends exchanged glances, then ducked back behind the same corner that Mona and John had hidden behind before. The man walked past them alongside a woman. Judging by their apparent closeness, the Legends guessed she was his wife. They stopped walking and stood still, near enough to allow the Legends to eavesdrop. "Nannerl has never skipped practice before," he continued. "She's normally even more diligent than her brother."

"And you're certain you looked all over the gardens?" the woman asked. "Perhaps she simply did not hear you call."

"I looked everywhere," he insisted. "I'll do it again, but I doubt I would have missed her."

"Oh dear," she said, her expression showing significant concern. "Where could she have possibly gone to?"

"She couldn't have left the palace," he pointed out. "Even if she knew the layout well enough to leave, the guards would have noticed and stopped her."

"She may have wandered into another wing and become lost," she suggested. "Nannerl is a smart girl, but a place of this size could be confusing for her. That must be it. If not, well, it's not like she disappeared into thin air, is it?"

"Certainly not," he agreed. He glanced at the door, listening to the musical sounds coming out of it. "I'll continue searching. We must find her soon."

"Indeed."

The couple began walking again and disappeared from view. The Legends emerged again from their hiding spot. "Guys," Nate said slowly, "I think I know what's going on."

"What?" Mona asked.

"Something interesting, I hope," John said.

"We were looking for the wrong thing," Nate explained. "We've only ever been able to detect rifts from the side that releases the anachronisms. That's what happened here. We can't find the rift because this isn't where it ends. It's where it starts."

"What are you saying, Pretty?" Mick asked, more intrigued than he showed.

"I'm saying that the anomaly isn't from an anachronism being dropped off here," he continued. "It's because a rift got something – or _someone_ – removed from this time and dropped off in another era."

"Someone, eh?" John repeated, nodding understandingly. "Ah, I see."

"That's right, John," Nate said. "We were looking for the wrong member of the Mozart family. Wolfgang Amadeus is doing fine in 1762, but his big sister is missing. And that's because_ she's_ an anachronism."


	34. (Former) Bad Guy Bonding

Ray and Nora had moved Leonard from the lab to the med bay, where he sat in one of the examination chairs. A futuristic circular scanner of some kind rotated above his head that he neither understood nor wanted to think much about. Two small circles were also stuck to each of his temples and connected to wires plugged into Gideon somewhere behind him. Another device tracking his vitals was attached to his wrist. All of these forms of technology transmitted their constantly updating findings to Ray's tablet, which he watched intently.

"This is fascinating," Ray said, looking up for just a moment. "We're really picking up on some great stuff here."

"I always knew I had an impressive brain," Leonard replied dryly, "but it's nice to have it scientifically proven."

Nora snorted, then cleared her throat to hide it and asked, "How much longer does Gideon need to keep scanning, Ray?"

"She should have all the data she needs in a few more minutes," Ray replied. He studied the figures on his tablet closely. "I can't draw any conclusions yet, but I can tell you that all of your essential functions are working perfectly fine."

"I could've told you that," Leonard remarked.

"But there also seems to be something else going on. Something…different."

Leonard raised his eyebrows and looked directly at Ray. "Different? Different how?"

"I'll be able to tell once Gideon's done scanning," Ray answered. "At first, I thought it was just more temporal energy – and you definitely have a lot of that – but this might be something else. We'll just have to wait and see. But I'm sure you're all right. No need to be scared or anything," he added with a reassuring smile.

Leonard did not smile back. "I don't scare, Raymond."

"Ah, yes," Ray said with a nod. "I remember." He pulled over a stool and sat down on it. "So, Snart, while I have you, there was something I wanted to ask…"

Leonard glanced up at the strange glowing object monitoring his brain. "Well, it's not like I'm going anywhere."

Ray leaned forward in his seat eagerly. "Who's your favorite member of the Fellowship of the Ring?" he asked with surprising enthusiasm.

Nora chuckled. Leonard closed his eyes and groaned. "You've got to be kidding me," he said.

"Come on, Snart," Ray pressed him. "Now that I know you like _Lord of the Rings_, we have something in common to talk about!"

"That's assuming I want to talk," Leonard replied.

Ray pointed at him. "Hey, you said it yourself: you're not going anywhere."

Leonard closed his eyes and muttered, "I knew I was going to regret that."

"If it makes you feel any better," Nora spoke up, "he asked me that, too. When I didn't have an answer, he made me watch the movies." She looked pointedly at Ray. "All three of them. In one day."

"And now she loves it," Ray said proudly.

"Eh," Nora said with a shrug. "I liked it. It's kind of hard to appreciate fictional magic when you can do your own, though."

"But it's not about the magic," Ray replied, turning to his girlfriend. "It's about the themes of brotherhood, and hope, and good triumphing over evil, and…"

"Ray," Nora reminded him gently, "I've already heard the speech."

"Right. Sorry." He turned back to Leonard. "We spent so much time butting heads when we were first getting to know each other. Don't you think it would be nice to have something to bond over now?"

"Not really," Leonard replied.

Ray frowned, but, ever the optimist, he quickly thought of another idea to try. "What about _Star Wars_?"

"What about it?" Leonard asked.

"You like it, don't you? You definitely mentioned it at least a couple times while we were on our first mission together."

Leonard shrugged. "Everyone knows _Star Wars_."

"Sure, most people do, but it's not everyone's go-to pop culture reference when they run into a guy with a metal suit and a blaster."

Leonard sighed exasperatedly. "Why are you doing this, Raymond? What do you want from me?"

"I just want to be better friends this time around," Ray said his hopeful smile returning. "I think we really could get along, especially now that I know we like a lot of the same stuff." He paused for a moment, then added, "Come on, Snart. The sooner you accept that we have interests in common, the sooner we can have fun geeking out about stuff together."

"And why would I want to do that, Raymond?"

"Uh…friendship?"

"Nope. Not a good enough reason."

Ray shook his head disappointedly, then focused on his tablet once again. "Okay, Snart. But once day, I think you'll come around."

"I doubt it."

Before they could argue any more, Sara stepped in from the hallway. She waved at Snart. "Hey, lab team. How's the science going?"

"Boring," Snart replied.

"Awesome," Ray said at the exact same time.

"Surprisingly entertaining," Nora said after hearing their opposite responses.

Sara nodded and smirked amusedly. "Well, that's just about what I expected from you three." She then announced, "The away team is coming back."

"Please tell me they didn't do something stupid with the kid," Leonard drawled.

"Not that I know of," Sara replied. "They said they figured out that the anachronism isn't _in_ 1762, but _from_ 1762." She turned specifically to Ray. "They said they'd elaborate when they get here, but they might need our help. Can you spare a few minutes for a team meeting on the bridge?"

"Absolutely!" Ray said enthusiastically, giving her a thumbs-up. "Count me in, Captain!"

"Finally," Leonard said. He glanced up at the device over his head again. "Anyone know how to turn this thing off?"

Ray frowned and shook his head. "Oh, no, Snart. You can't leave yet."

"Why not?" he asked.

"You're not done." Ray turned the tablet to face Snart and pointed to the figures and shapes on it. "Gideon still doesn't have one hundred percent of the data she needs. It'll be another…" He looked over the top edge of the screen the check. "…four minutes and forty-five seconds, approximately."

Leonard turned his face toward Sara, silently requesting support. She understood his message, but she shrugged and answered, "Sorry, Snart. I know you want a break, but if Ray says you're not done, you're not done." She turned to Nora. "Keep an eye on him while we meet the others."

"Got it," Nora said with a nod. Ray handed her the tablet, then followed Sara out of the room.

Nora sat down on a nearby stool and watched the numbers on her screen until the silence became awkward. Now that there was a new ex-villain on the team, she thought it might be nice to get to know him a little better, and despite her boyfriend's recent failed attempts, she figured that starting a conversation was the best place to begin. "So…you and Ray have an interesting history, huh?" she asked.

Leonard studied her for a moment, assessing her motives as he debated how to answer, if at all. "You could say that. Why?"

"Oh, just curious," she answered. "You just seem to make fun of him a lot."

"I wouldn't if he didn't make it so easy." He asked her dryly, "I take it you enjoy dating the world's biggest nerd?"

Nora laughed a little. "Honestly, he's pretty amazing. I've never known anyone as sweet as him." She returned her gaze to the tablet, keeping track of its progress. "I mean, seriously, if it wasn't for Ray, I'd probably be evil, dead, or both. Even if we weren't dating, he'd still easily be the most positive influence I've ever had in my life."

"Sounds like he hasn't changed much, then," Leonard said. "Still the biggest goody-two-shoes in the world. And that's why I make fun of him."

"Well, I wouldn't say he's a _complete_ goody-two-shoes," Nora replied, attempting to defend her boyfriend's wholesome reputation to a fellow former villain. "He can break the rules when he wants to."

"Raymond? Yeah, right."

"He can, I swear." She immediately thought of an example. "One time, he broke me out of prison, and he didn't even let the other Legends in on it."

That caught Leonard off guard. He sat up as straight as the chair allowed him to so he could look more directly at Nora. "Hold on. Wait just a minute. You're telling me Raymond…Dr. Raymond Palmer…the ultimate Boy Scout…broke you out of prison? By himself?"

"Basically, yeah. He gave me a magic time stone knowing I would use it to escape, and I did." She noticed the shocked look on Leonard's face and smirked proudly. "What? Didn't think he had it in him to pull off a prison break?"

"No," Leonard replied bluntly. "No, I did not."

"Are you going to make fun of him any less now?"

"Hm…don't think so. He's still too much of a Boy Scout for his own good."

"Agree to disagree, I guess," she said, shrugging as she focused on the tablet again. There were two more minutes left. She tried to think of a new conversation topic. "Hey, you're from Central City, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

She looked back up at him and explained, "I used to live there, too. But it wasn't for very long." She waited, hoping he would say some kind of response to continue the conversation. He didn't, but she wasn't ready to give up. She recalled her memories of Central City to try to find something to keep talking about. "It was kind of a rough time in my life. Well, no, it was an extremely rough time. Terrible, even. There was this whole thing with my dad dying for the first time and then coming back and…whatever, it doesn't matter right now. But I do remember one thing in Central City that I absolutely loved: CC Jitters."

Leonard rolled his eyes, finally reacting. "You mean the place that worships the Flash and his friends as its gimmick?"

Nora was relieved to get any kind of response from him. "Hey, Jitters is more than just the place with Flash-themed drinks," she said defensively. "They're a legitimately good coffee shop."

"I don't disagree about the drink quality. But it's still gimmicky, and Team Flash's egos don't need it."

"Oh, so you've been there?"

"Obviously. You think anyone can live in Central City long-term and not pay Jitters a visit or two?"

Nora leaned forward toward him, feeling a little triumphant about finding at least one thing they had in common, aside from villainous pasts. "What's your favorite Jitters drink, then?" she asked. "Wait, let me guess: it's _not_ the Flash."

"You guess correctly."

"Okay, but what is it?"

Leonard looked at her suspiciously. He wasn't in the habit of engaging in small talk, and even less so with people he had only met relatively recently. "Why all the interest?"

"Why not?" she countered. She waited for his answer, but he didn't give one. _Oh, come on_, she thought. _We're making so much progress here_. She decided to keep talking on her own and hope he would eventually join back in. "Well, I'm personally partial to their peppermint hot chocolate. Best drink ever, hands down."

Slowly, the corner of Leonard's mouth started to curve up. It was too subtle to be considered a smile, but it was enough for Nora to notice with no small amount of satisfaction. Little did she know, she had just named his sister's favorite holiday treat growing up, and he had many memories of taking a much younger Lisa to Jitters in its early days for exactly that reason. "Peppermint hot chocolate, huh?" Snart said. "That's a classic."

"That's why I like it."

Leonard knew Nora was waiting for him to say something next and hesitated. He didn't particularly want to disclose any more information about himself than he already had. Then again, he was finding her company more tolerable than Ray's, and, as he'd regretting admitting earlier, he still wasn't going anywhere. "Peppermint's all right," he said, finally forcing himself to share something about his tastes, "but without mini marshmallows, hot cocoa just isn't the same."

Nora grinned, recognizing her victory. "Why not both?" she pointed out.

Leonard smirked at her a little more openly this time. "Not a bad idea."

* * *

By the time Ray and Sara arrived on the bridge, the away team was already there, having returned from the recently docked jump ship. They had docked so recently, in fact, that they hadn't had time to change out of their period attire, although Mick clenched his powdered wig in his hands instead of wearing it on his head.

"Hey, guys," Ray said as he took his place at the central console. "Did you meet Mozart? What was he like?"

"He was six," Mick grunted.

"And, apparently, not who we should be looking for," John added.

As he spoke, Zari and Charlie walked into the room from the opposite entrance. "Whoo!" Charlie hooted, pointing at John first, then Mona, Nate, and Mick in their elegant outfits. "Looking quite dashing today, aren't we?" She reached the central console and leaned against it with a teasing grin. "Did you make sure you didn't drop any glass slippers on your way out of the ball?"

John rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up."

"It wasn't a ball," Nate corrected her, "and we're only still dressed like this because we didn't have time to change."

Zari tilted her head sideways as she looked him over. "Actually, I think it kind of works on you."

Nate's face brightened at the compliment. "Really? I mean, uh, yeah, I knew that."

"This is dumb," Mick said, ending the conversation about clothes. "Let's get on with it." He nodded toward Nate. "Pretty says we found the wrong kid and the right one's somewhere else."

"Wrong kid?" Ray asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "What does that mean?"

"There are two Mozart siblings," Nate explained. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had an older sister named Maria Anna, better known by her nickname, Nannerl. Both of them performed at court in 1762. While Wolfgang's still in his proper place, his sister is missing. We think it's because instead of a rift spitting something out into their year, it pulled her in and sent her to another time."

"So," Sara said, continuing his line of reasoning, "what we need to do is figure out which rift Nannerl got sent through."

"Exactly," said Mona.

Sara thought for a second, then said loudly, "Gideon, how old was Nannerl Mozart in 1762?"

Gideon answered, "Maria Anna Mozart was born in 1751, making her eleven years old at the time of her disappearance."

"Got any pictures in your records?" Sara asked.

A holographic projection of a young girl's portrait appeared in the middle of the central console. "The exact year of this image's painting is unknown, but it was most likely within a reasonably close range of 1762."

"Perfect," Sara said. "Search through all known rift locations for reports of a girl around eleven years old with facial recognition set to that portrait." She looked to the away team again and asked, "How's the timeline? Has her disappearance changed anything major yet?"

"Wolfgang seemed really upset when he didn't know where she was," Mona said. "Also, she went missing the day she's supposed to perform with him before the court, so I'd imagine her not showing up could be a big deal."

"But nothing else seemed off," Nate added, "and any changes that did happen haven't solidified."

"Then let's try to keep it that way," Sara said. "The faster we deal with this, the better. We also need to keep monitoring the situation in 1762 to make sure it doesn't get too off-track, just in case."

"Captain," Gideon's voice interrupted, "I believe I have located a rift in our database matching your description." The portrait's projection vanished and was replaced with the map of the timeline. Gideon quickly zoomed in and centered on one dot until its details were visible.

"1983?" the Legends said, reading the rift's year in the same moment.

"That is correct," Gideon confirmed. "Security footage of a shopping mall in Keystone indicates the presence of a girl aged around eleven years old, with facial features identical to that portrait and clothing much more similar to the 1760s than the 1980s."

"Nice work, Gideon," Sara said, her face revealing an impressed smile at Gideon's quick work. She then looked at Zari. "How are the updates going?" she asked her. "Do you think the Waverider can take a jump to 1983?"

"Hm…" Zari thought for a second, then nodded. "They're not quite done yet, but I think it's a small enough jump that the updates won't be significantly affected."

"Okay, then," Sara said, piecing together a plan. "In that case, we'll take the ship to 1983 to look for Nannerl and the rift." She pointed two fingers at the away team. "Since you guys are already dressed, two of you can head back to 1762 in the jump ship to keep an eye on things. Once the rest of us get to the 80s, we're going to have to search that mall. But remember, Nannerl's only eleven, and she's over two hundred years out of her time. We need to handle this very carefully and try not to make her any more freaked out than she probably already is." She turned to Ray. "Go tell Nora and Snart what's going on. As soon as you're done with…whatever science stuff you're doing, we'll start the jump. It wouldn't be safe to do it while Snart's still hooked up to Gideon's medical equipment."

"Agreed," Ray said with a nod. "He should be almost done now. I'll go tell them." He hurried away in the direction of the med bay.

"As for the rest of us," Sara said, speaking to the group again, "strap yourselves in, Legends, because we are going to the 80s!"

After a beat, Nate spoke up, "Um, no offense, Captain, but…don't you usually come up with something more creative than that?"

Sara rolled her eyes at him. "Nate, I already gave you one good send-off today. It's not like they're all going to be winners."

He nodded and smiled understandingly. "That's fair. You know I always appreciate the effort, Captain."

"Thank you, Nate." She paused for a second, then added, "But seriously, you guys need to get ready to go." The Legends obediently scrambled to prepare for takeoff.

* * *

**A/N: I hope Nora and Snart weren't too out of character, but I just really feel like they'd be friends if they were ever on the Waverider together.**


	35. The Keystone Mall

"Arriving in Keystone, 1983," Gideon's voice echoed through the ship.

The Legends on the bridge watched from their seats as the swirling mass of the temporal zone suddenly gave way to blue skies and a city below them. "Perfect," said Sara as she flipped a switch to keep the Waverider cloaked. "Got a location for the mall?" A hologram of directions appeared in front of her. "Thanks." She glanced back at her team. "Hang tight, guys. We're almost there."

She flew the ship according to Gideon's directions until they located a large, crowded shopping mall near the center of town. It took a minute to find a location where the Waverider could stay parked without being noticed, but once it landed, the Legends unstrapped themselves from their seats. "Here we come, 80s!" Nate exclaimed, stretching his arms as he stood up. He turned to John and Mona, both still dressed for the 1760s. "You two know how to fly the jump ship, right?"

"Of course, mate," John replied. "I still think your hot-headed friend would be better suited for my job, though." He threw an annoyed look at Mick. "But I don't suppose he's interested in switching places."

Mick shrugged. "That's what you get for always picking rock, Trench Coat. Try scissors next time."

John rolled his eyes. "I don't always pick rock."

"Legends," Sara said, calling everyone's attention to herself as she stood in front of them, "we've got to get to work. Mona and John, the jump ship's yours. The rest of us need to strategize." While Mona and John made their way out of the bridge, the rest of the team gathered around the central console. "Gideon," Sara ordered, "do you have a floorplan for this mall?"

Gideon projected a translucent three-dimensional model in the middle of the console with detailed depictions of every floor in its structure. "Ooh, even better," Charlie remarked.

"Leonard," Sara asked, looking to the thief who was already carefully analyzing the projection, "you know how to case a place like this. What've you got?"

Leonard leaned in closer to the image to take in the details, eager to finally have something to do. "It's got three floors with four main entrances on the ground," he observed aloud, "plus two emergency exits on opposite ends. Looks like each store on the ground floor is at most two minutes from an exit at walking speed, but the ones closest to the doors could take as little as thirty seconds. Travel time increases on the upper levels, so I'd allow seven minutes to an exit from anywhere on floor three, just to be safe. There's one openly visible fire alarm per wall on each floor, not counting the ones inside some of the stores, plus a security station on each end on the ground level. Also, security cameras are throughout the building, but it looks like there are a few blind spots here," he pointed to a spot on the top floor, "here," he pointed to another on the middle floor, "and here," he pointed to a final one on the ground floor.

"Okay," Nate said, "but shouldn't we be figuring out where Nannerl would go? We're trying to find a lost kid, not rob the place."

Leonard glared at him, but Sara spoke before he had the chance to respond. "Everything in this mall would be new to Nannerl," she told him. "That means it's hard to tell where she'd be drawn to."

"Not the movie theater at the far end," Leonard pointed out. "She wouldn't know how to sneak in without a ticket. The rest of the mall looks like fair game, though." He turned to Sara. "You want anything else? I've got more. Air ducts, windows…"

"I think we're good," Sara replied, smiling appreciatively. "It's nice to have your brain around again." Leonard smirked back at her until she looked away. "We've got to hit each floor," Sara explained. "That means splitting up."

"I'm still working on updates," Zari pointed out, "but I think I can spare a few minutes away from the engine room to help you guys look around."

"Okay, great." Sara looked around at the other faces surrounding her. "How about the rest of you? Are you all good to go?"

"Snart isn't," Ray answered.

Leonard groaned. "Didn't you say I was done with your tests, Raymond?"

"You are," Ray clarified, "but because of the radiation Gideon had to use on your brain, you have to stay under observation in a controlled environment for at least one more hour, just as a precaution."

Leonard appealed to Sara. "Captain, allow me to remind you that you need someone who can case a target on your mission."

"And I will remind you that you already told us what we need to know," she replied. "Sorry, Snart, but Ray knows more about this stuff than I do. If he says you have to stay back for an hour, I trust him."

"Maybe we can finally geek out about Star Wars together," Ray suggested with a friendly grin that Leonard did not return. "You know, we actually kind of met George Lucas this one time…"

"Ray," Nora said, tapping on her boyfriend's shoulder to interrupt him, "I think you should go to the mall with the others. I can watch Snart." All eyes turned toward her, most of them accompanied by surprised looks. "What?" she said. "You just need someone to watch him and make sure he doesn't…I don't know, explode or something."

Mick turned to look sharply at Ray. "Explode?" he repeated.

"She's exaggerating," Ray assured him.

"Good," Mick muttered. "He already blew up once. He's not allowed to do that twice." He pointed a finger at Leonard. "You're not allowed to do that twice," he reiterated.

"Wasn't planning on it," Snart said.

Nora continued, still addressing Ray, "They might need your technological expertise out there, Ray. I can handle keeping an eye on Snart for an hour."

"For the record, I still don't think anyone needs to keep an eye on me," Snart pointed out. "I feel perfectly fine, and I've been stuck in here long enough."

Ray ignored Snart's argument and spoke to Nora. "Okay. You can stay back with him. I'll go on the mission. But call me if literally anything happens."

Leonard leaned in toward Sara and began to say, "Sara, I…"

Sara held up her hand and he obediently fell silent. "Nope. You heard Ray. You're staying." She put her hand down and addressed the rest of the team, "Nate and Zari, you two search the bottom floor. Ray and Charlie, you can cover the top. Mick and I will search the middle."

"Sounds like a plan, Captain," Charlie said, forming a casual salute with two fingers.

The Legends gradually filed out, making their way toward the fabrication room. Mick stepped over to Nora's side and leaned in to growl at her, "He'd better not blow up."

"He won't," she assured him.

Mick accepted her statement with a nod and left to join the others. Once the rest of their teammates were gone, Leonard and Nora stared at each other across the central console. "So…" Leonard said after an awkwardly long silence, "…now what?"

Nora smiled and shrugged. "I've got a few ideas."

* * *

Ray, Charlie, Mick, Sara, Nate, and Zari entered through the main doors of the Keystone Mall, all of them dressed to blend in with the shoppers of 1983. Once inside, they split up and headed toward their respective floors.

"Let's see," Ray said as he and Charlie stepped off the escalator and onto the top floor. "What around here would be most likely to catch a little girl's attention?" He turned to Charlie. "You were a little girl once, right? Got any ideas?"

"Eh," Charlie said, waving her hand in a fifty-fifty motion. "I wouldn't really put it that way. Immortality is complicated." She sidestepped away from the escalator and led Ray to the directory posted near it. "But this could help. It says there's a music store on this level. Our little prodigy might be drawn to that."

"Oh, perfect," Ray said, finding its location on the directory's map. "Looks like it's nearby. Let's check it out."

Meanwhile, Nate and Zari arrived on the second floor. "Okay," Zari said, looking around. "I see kids running around, but none looking like they belong in the 1700s."

"Hm…yeah," Nate agreed, also examining the area as they walked. "Nothing too out of the ordinary here." He looked over his shoulder, then signaled Zari to stop. "There's a food court on this level," he said, pointing across to the opposite side of the floor. "You think she got hungry?"

Zari shrugged. "It's as good a start as any." The two of them turned around and began walking in the direction of the food court.

Sara and Mick stood in the middle of the ground floor, surrounded by dozens of mostly adult shoppers. "You'd think a kid from the wrong century would stick out," Mick muttered as he scanned the crowds. "See anything, boss?"

"No," Sara replied, also watching the people passing them carefully. "In fact, I don't see anyone who looks younger than sixteen." A group of four short middle schoolers rushed past them. Sara turned to Mick as they narrowly avoided bumping into them. "Never mind."

Mick rolled his eyes, then attempted to glare at the clumsy kids. They were already too far away to notice. "Well, they're in a hurry," he observed. He shrugged, then turned away. "Now, about the girl…"

"Wait," Sara said, grabbing his arm. He turned to face her again. "Look where they're hurrying off to," she said, pointing to the far end of the mall. The group was running toward a room decorated with bright lights and filled with other people around their age. "That's an arcade," Sara explained.

"I can see what it is," Mick grunted.

"And it's full of teens and preteens," she continued. "She'd have no idea what an arcade is, sure, but with the after-school crowd out in full force, she could've easily been swept up in a large group of kids headed there."

"So you think that's where she is?" Mick asked.

"I think it's a good spot to check out, at least. Come on." She led him across the ground floor toward the arcade's entrance.

* * *

Leonard watched Nora suspiciously as she moved around the Waverider kitchen. "Not that I mind being in a different part of the ship," he said, "but if you're going to observe me, why did you move me over here?"

"I thought it would be a little less weird than the lab," she answered casually as she pushed a series of buttons on Gideon's machinery. A few seconds later, she was holding two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "Also, this." She set one mug down in front of Snart and kept the other in her hands as she sat down across the table from him.

Leonard glanced down at the drink, then back up at her, a confused look on his face. "Why?"

"Why not? You said you liked hot cocoa. And I did put mini marshmallows in yours."

He looked down at it again. "Yeah, I noticed." He tentatively took a small sip of his drink, then asked, "But why?"

"Well, I thought it might be nice to chill for a minute," Nora answered. "Get a chance to hang out, you know? Just reformed bad guy to reformed bad guy."

Leonard scowled at her menacingly. "Who are you calling reformed?"

"Oh please," Nora replied, not at all intimidated. "You can pretend all you want, but Ray told me about all the heroic stuff you did. Trust me, you're in way too deep with the good guys to back out now. The villain ship has sailed." She took a sip of her hot cocoa and smiled. "Mm…good job, Gideon."

"Look," Leonard said coldly, "I don't care what Raymond told you. I'm not a hero, and I never said I was."

"I know," she said. "I never said you were either. I just said you weren't a villain. At least, not anymore. There are all kinds of shades of gray between hero and villain. No one knows that better than me." She paused in thought, then continued, "I mean, even real villains have their own shades of gray, too. Take my dad."

Leonard raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Damien Darhk?"

"Yeah. Super bad guy. He had this whole thing about destroying the world to rebuild it in his own image. Also, he kind of made me join a cult."

"And he killed Sara's sister," Leonard pointed out.

"Exactly. Like I said, horrible person. But he also sacrificed his life to save me because, deep down, even with all the terrible crap he did, he was still my father and he still cared about me."

"Can't relate," Leonard muttered under his breath.

"The point is," Nora continued, "people are complicated. I don't think I'm a hero just because I'm a Legend now. I have too much darkness in my past to feel like I can honestly say that. But I do think I'm trying to do the right thing now. And so are you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

Leonard's scowl gradually faded. He studied Nora as he took a sip of his hot cocoa, waited a moment, then said, "Fine. You want to say I'm somewhere in the middle? Go ahead. But that's as far as I'll go. No lumping me in with your Boy Scout boyfriend."

Nora straightened up in her seat and held her mug over the table. "To shades of gray," she said with a slight smile.

Leonard hesitated, then gave in. "To shades of gray," he said, bumping his mug against hers before they both took a sip of their own drinks.

* * *

Charlie and Ray approached the music store. They heard the sound of 80s pop music grow louder until they found themselves facing a window full of television screens playing brightly colored music videos. On the other side of the screens was the door leading to the inside of the store.

"Wow," Charlie said, eyes wide as she watched the screen. "Music got a little different after the 70s, didn't it? Not quite my style, but it does have some interesting new tricks. I might even borrow a few and pass them on to my band."

"Careful," Ray warned. "Music is like technology. Different influences build on each other to develop new innovations over time. You can't remove a step from the equation and jump to the future." He gasped as a realization hit him. "Unless…those ideas developed in the first place _because_ you brought them back from the future, which means you would have to take them back with you in order to influence the artists who influenced you. It would create a cycle!"

"Rage, stop trying to make my brain spin," Charlie said. She nodded toward the entrance to the store. "Are we checking it out or not?"

The two of them walked inside. It was one of the larger individual stores in the mall. Most of the space inside was taken up by tables and shelves full of vinyl records on one side and cassettes on the other. There were posters of various rock bands and pop stars hanging all over the walls, a few of them signed. The only wall not decorated in this way was the back wall, which instead displayed several musical instruments at differing heights. This display continued in the space directly in front of the wall, which included a large drum set, a couple different kinds of keyboards, and two guitars resting on stands. The shelf in the corner next to the instruments held books of sheet music and chord charts written for varying levels of musicianship. As Ray and Charlie wandered around the store, something near that corner caught the shapeshifter's eye.

"Ray," she said in a hushed voice, "I think I know where our girl is." She led him to the back of the store, then tiptoed silently around the instrument display. "I saw someone take something out of that shelf," Charlie explained. "I didn't get a good look, but they ran behind…that." She pointed to the drum set, which was big enough to block their view of the opposite corner almost entirely.

They walked over to the drum set. In the middle, hiding from view, was a small girl with her face buried in a book of sheet music based on movie soundtracks. It was hard to see very much of her from her hiding spot, but the small amount of her outfit that they could see was definitely more in line with 1762 than 1983. Ray and Charlie exchanged glances and gestures, trying to decide who should say something first. Finally, Ray spoke up, "Um…hey there. Are you lost?"

The girl looked up quickly and set her book down on the floor. She stared wide-eyed at Ray and Charlie. From the way she shrank back from them, they could tell she was terrified. "It's okay," Ray said gently. "You don't have to be scared. We're your friends."

"That's right," Charlie said, backing him up. "Friends. Do you want to go home, Nannerl?"

The girl continued to stare at them. "How do you know my name?" she asked in a tiny, accented voice.

"Oh, good," Charlie remarked to Ray. "I was a little worried she didn't understand us." She looked back at Nannerl and explained, "You got lost and we came looking for you. Now, do you want to come home?"

Nannerl glanced at the floor, then back up at Charlie. "Is my brother with you?"

"Uh…no?" Charlie replied. She added a little more confidently, "I mean, no, he isn't, but if you let us take you home, then…"

"I'm supposed to look after my brother," Nannerl said. "I don't know where he is."

"Your brother's fine," Ray assured her. "I know this is scary, but I promise, we're just trying to help you."

Nannerl continued to stare at them but didn't seem eager to move.

"Excuse me," a man's voice asked from behind them.

Charlie and Ray turned around to see a store employee standing there. "Oh, hello," Ray said.

"Can I help you find anything?" the employee asked.

"That's very nice of you," Ray replied, "but we're just here to pick up…um…someone…" He looked to Charlie for help.

"His niece," Charlie finished for him. "We're picking up his niece."

"Yeah," Ray quickly agreed. "Because she came here after school. And she really likes…you know…music and…stuff."

If they hadn't been trying to blend in, Charlie would've made some sarcastic comment about Ray's discomfort with lying. However, their main goal was to avoid drawing too much attention to the girl inside the drum set, so she said nothing.

"Oh, okay," the employee said, still not leaving. "Do you see her here?"

"Yeah," Ray answered without thinking, "she's right here behind the drum…set." He had caught himself, but only once it was too late to come up with another end to his sentence. This time, Charlie had to try even harder to hold back her comments. "I mean," Ray quickly explained, "she's just being a little stubborn. But we've got it under control. No need to worry. We'll be out of your hair in a minute."

The employee leaned sideways and glanced past them at the drum set. "Really? I don't see her."

"That's because she's hiding," Ray replied, sidestepping to block the employee's view. "She does that sometimes. What a prankster."

Charlie glanced backward, then tapped on Ray's shoulder. "Um, Ray? She's actually gone."

"What?" Ray asked, spinning around. Sure enough, the only thing left in the center of the drums was the book of sheet music lying on the ground. "Oh no," he breathed. "Did we lose her?" He looked around the store and spotted a glimpse of Nannerl's dress as she ran out the door. "There she goes!" he exclaimed to Charlie. He hurried after her, trying very hard not to knock over any instruments in the process.

Charlie noticed the strange look on the employee's face and explained, "He's a…very protective uncle. Kids, you know?" She then turned around and sprinted after him.


	36. Nannerl

"Why is she so hard to keep up with?" Charlie asked, trying to catch her breath as she sprinted alongside Ray.

"I don't know," Ray panted. "She has a big skirt and little legs. She shouldn't be this fast!"

Far ahead of them, they saw Nannerl begin running downstairs. Charlie activated her comms. "Oi, anybody on here?" she said. "We've got a runaway kid heading down to the second floor and she is not stopping."

On the second floor, Zari and Nate sat at a table observing the food court. Zari stood up as she heard Charlie's message. "We've got it," she said. She turned to Nate. "Nannerl's coming this way."

"Okay," Nate said as he also stood up. "Which direction is she coming from?"

A short blur in an elegant blue dress burst past the food court right in front of them.

"I think that answers your question," Zari said. "Come on!"

They hurried out of the food court and followed the running girl toward the movie theater on the opposite end. After passing a few stores, they managed to get within close enough range of her to try talking to her. "Hey!" Nate called out to her. "Nannerl! Wait!"

Nannerl spun around and spotted Zari and Nate. "Who are you?" she demanded.

They slowed to a walking pace. "We're friends," Zari explained. "We're trying to help you."

Nannerl stepped backward uneasily, not seeming to trust Zari's words. "What is this place?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter," Nate replied. "We just need to get you home, okay? Well, technically the palace, which isn't your actual home, but the point is, we're getting you back to where you should be." She seemed to hesitate, not giving him any verbal response as she took another step backward. "Nannerl?" he asked, waiting for her answer.

Suddenly, a massive crowd poured out of the movie theater, filling the space around them. Zari and Nate sidestepped around the mass of people. "A big movie must've just gotten out," Zari concluded.

"Seems like it," Nate agreed. Between the moviegoers, he spotted Nannerl pushing her way through the crowd, moving away from them. "Oh no," he said. "She's getting away." He grabbed Zari's hand and the two of them tried to wade through the crowd. However, by the time they got to where Nannerl had been standing, she was gone. "Aw man," Nate groaned. "We almost had her."

"Look!" Zari exclaimed, pointing diagonally at the nearest staircase. "She's over there!" She turned on her comms and said, "Nannerl's heading to the first floor. She's coming down the staircase between the shoe store and the jewelry shop."

Sara picked up the call. "On our way," she said, "but why is she running? Didn't I say not to freak her out?"

"Ask Ray and Charlie," Zari replied.

"Hey," Ray's voice said to both of them defensively, "we tried to be calm. At least we got her to talk to us for a second before she took off."

Sara sighed, then turned to Mick and nodded toward the exit of the arcade. "She's on our floor. Let's go."

They waded through the crowd of adolescents. Sara had to stop Mick from nearly pushing a couple of middle schoolers out of the way. But finally, they made their way out and rushed toward the staircase just as Nannerl reached the bottom.

"Hey! Kid!" Mick shouted at her.

"Mick, no," Sara said, trying to stay calm. "You'll scare her."

"Get over here!" he bellowed, ignoring her warning.

Nannerl looked back at him, then turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

"What did I say?" Sara said with a pointed look at her teammate. Mick muttered something unintelligible under his breath. Sara didn't bother asking him to repeat himself and took off after Nannerl. Mick followed close behind.

Nannerl ran through the crowded ground floor. As she bumped and jostled her way around, she became increasingly aware of people gawking at her and how very strange every single person near her looked. She had no idea where she was or how she'd arrived there, but she did know one thing: she was playing hide-and-seek with her little brother. Surely, he had to be nearby, too. She saw a very small boy standing near the fountain in the center of the mall. His back was facing her, and he was far away, but what she could see of him looked very much like her brother. "Wolfgang!" she exclaimed, relieved to finally see something that made sense. She hurried to the fountain and jokingly shoved him. "Don't scare me like that!" she teased. "I've been looking everywhere."

The boy jumped and spun around. "Hey!"

Nannerl gasped. His face was not Wolfgang's face. In fact, now that she could get a good look at him, she thought he might even be a little bit taller than her brother. This definitely was not the boy she was looking for. The world went back to making no sense. "I…I didn't…" she stammered.

The boy glanced at her dress and scoffed, "You look like a weirdo."

She tried to back away from him until her shoes touched the edge of the fountain. "I…uh…"

He frowned at her. "Don't push me, weirdo!" he said as he shoved her back before running away and disappearing into the crowd.

The shove he gave her was relatively light, and under normal circumstances would not have significantly affected its victim. However, Nannerl was standing on the slippery tile edge of a fountain in shoes that she had already been more active in than they were intended for, wearing a bulky dress that was not making keeping her balance any easier, and feeling both confused and overwhelmed by all the strange things around her. Therefore, the little boy's push was enough to make her lean just a little too far back, causing her to try to step backward to keep her balance, slipping on the wet tile in the process…and finally fall with a splash into the center of the shallow fountain.

Sara and Mick arrived on the scene just after she fell. "Wow," Sara said. "Kids are mean." She looked around for a moment, trying to find the boy who had pushed her, but he was already gone. Giving up on that, she cautiously approached the soaked girl in the fountain. She knelt at the edge of the tiles and looked directly into Nannerl's eyes. "Hey," she said, speaking slowly and calmly to avoid startling the girl. "Are you hurt?"

Nannerl sat up in the shallow water. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "No," she said quietly.

"Are you sure?" Sara asked again. "We can take care of you if you're hurt."

"No," she repeated, a little more confidently this time. "I…I'm not hurt."

Just then, the other Legends made it to the ground floor. Zari, Nate, Charlie, and Ray huddled around Sara, with Mick finally joining them from where he had been standing back. "What happened?" Nate asked. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Sara answered. "Some jerk kid pushed her, and it made her slip. She says she's not hurt." She stood up and extended her hand to Nannerl. "We're here to help you. Is that okay?"

Nannerl tentatively took Sara's hand and let her help her stand up again. She stepped out of the fountain and looked around at the faces of the Legends standing over her. "Who…who are you?" she asked, eyes wide with both curiosity and concern.

"We're the Legends," Ray answered, "and we're here to keep you safe."

"Yeah, because we're doing a great job of that right now," Mick said.

"Shut up, Mick," Zari said, silencing him with a glare. "From what I heard on comms, you didn't help."

"But seriously," Charlie said, speaking directly to Nannerl, "we're trying to help you out. You're somewhere you're not supposed to be right now, and we can get you back to where you're supposed to be. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Nannerl hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you taking my brother, too?"

"Your brother is already there," Nate explained simply. "If you come with us, we can take you back to him. Do you want us to take you back to your brother?"

Nannerl glanced over her shoulder and noticed the growing number of people staring at her. She looked down at the floor as she tried to think through what was going on. Finally, she lifted her face to look at Sara again. "I...I do."

"Good," Sara replied. "Then, let's get you out of here."

* * *

"So _that's_ what Savage meant when he said they were fighting over a girl," Nora said as she set down her empty mug that previously held hot cocoa.

"Can't believe the Boy Scout didn't tell you," Snart replied as he reclined in his seat, leaning back so his feet rested on the edge of the table.

"I mean, he kind of did after I asked him," Nora clarified. "Just not with this much detail." She thought for a second, then asked, "But didn't she have a soulmate that whole time? Like, someone they all knew would reincarnate?"

"Yep," Leonard confirmed nonchalantly.

"Okay," Nora said, thinking the situation over. "Well, I'm going to need to have a little talk with Ray…"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry," Leonard drawled. "Raymond might be an idiot, but he knows when something's over. Kendra was years ago, and so was Savage. These days, he's all yours."

Nora smiled, oddly reassured. "Yeah, but I still might want to talk to him, just to make sure we're both on the same page about everything. You know, honesty and communication and all that."

"How sweet," Leonard deadpanned.

"Also, I cannot believe Ray played Jenga in Hell with the guy who tried to murder his ex-fiancée multiple times," Nora pointed out.

Leonard gave her a strange look. "Is the fact that he played Jenga in Hell at all not ridiculous enough for you?"

Nora shrugged. "Fair point."

"Attention," Gideon's voice declared through the Waverider's speakers. "The Legends have returned and are bringing the anachronism on board."

Leonard took his feet off the table and sat up in his chair. "Well, it's about time."

Nora and Leonard stood up and walked over to the cargo bay just as the door closed behind the Legends and one very wet little girl. Nora stared at her. "So…what happened?" she asked.

"Water fountain mishap," Sara answered. "Everything's fine now." She turned to Zari and Charlie. "Get her to the fabrication room so Gideon can dry off her clothes." The two women led Nannerl away. "Any word from the away team?" she asked Leonard and Nora.

"Haven't heard anything," Nora replied.

"Well, that probably means nothing's gone horribly wrong," Sara said.

"You mean, aside from terrifying a little girl and almost drowning her?" Leonard drawled with a quick glance toward the exit Nannerl, Zari, and Charlie had just gone through.

"Hey," Nate responded quickly, "we didn't almost drown her. It was a very shallow fountain, and we're not the ones who pushed her in."

Sara turned around to directly face Ray and Nate. "True, but if you guys hadn't scared her off, we could've brought her back to the ship a lot sooner without having to chase her all around the mall." She pointed at Mick without looking away. "And that includes you, too, Rory."

"Well, she was faster than we expected," Ray pointed out. "And way more skittish."

Mick finally broke his silence. "It doesn't matter what happened," he said gruffly. "We wanted to find the kid. We got the kid. Now, the kid's on the ship. What's next?"

"The rift," Sara answered. "Our comms were all working at the mall, so that means it's somewhere else in this area."

Nate gave her a thumbs up. "Okay, Captain. Let's go!"

As he moved toward the cargo bay door, Sara blocked him with her arm. "Not so fast. You're needed on the ship."

Nate raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why?"

"Because between making sure Nannerl stays safe and keeping in touch with the away team," Sara answered, "we'll need a few more people onboard. Zari's got to get back to her updates, so she'll be in the engine room. You should stay behind, along with at least two more people."

"Not me," Mick said immediately. "I don't want to babysit."

"Nora's been here all day," Ray suggested. "It's only fair to let her out in the field. For that matter, Snart seems good to go, too. He's been under observation long enough."

"Actually," Leonard said slowly, "I might stick around here."

Nate and Ray stared blankly at him, stunned. Sara and Mick also looked at him, but with less shock. "You actually want to stay on the ship?" Nate asked, disbelief all over his face. "Weren't you complaining about being stuck here all morning?"

"I was complaining about being stuck letting Raymond experiment on me," Leonard clarified. "Judging by how it sounds like things went at the mall, you guys are clearly desperate for help with that kid on your hands."

Nate opened his mouth to argue, but Ray stopped him with a gentle pat on the back. "Let it go, buddy," he said. Nate accepted his friend's suggestion and relaxed without responding.

"Thank you, Leonard," Sara said, smiling appreciatively. "In that case, I'll take Mick, Nora, and Ray to find the rift. Nate, Charlie, and Snart can look after Nannerl. Zari will be working on Gideon's software. And, of course, John and Mona are still in 1762 keeping an eye on things." She looked around at the teammates surrounding her. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nope," Ray replied cheerfully. "You've got it all covered, Captain."

"Perfect," Sara said. "In that case, I'll go to the bridge to check on a couple things, then grab Charlie and head out." She walked out of the cargo bay, flashing a sweet smile at Leonard as she passed him, and then made her way toward the bridge.

Leonard watched her over his shoulder until she disappeared from view, then looked back at the others and noticed Nate staring at him with what looked like a very confused expression. "What?" Leonard asked. "Something wrong?"

Nate shrugged and broke himself out of his thoughts. "No, no. Nothing's wrong. Just…wasn't expecting you to volunteer for that. Or anything, really. You're usually so…grumpy, I guess? Is that the right word?"

"Shows how much you know about me," Leonard replied coldly before turning around and walking away.

* * *

Once Sara, Mick, Nora, and Ray had planned out their search strategy, they left the ship as a group to locate the rift. Zari changed back into her typical flannel and jeans and headed to the engine room to get back to work. Charlie, Leonard, and Nate were left standing just outside the open doors of the library. Inside, Nannerl sat quietly, her clothes now dry, taking in her surroundings.

"She seems calm now," Charlie observed as the three of them watched their guest from a distance. "I guess the fright wore off."

"Oh, please," Leonard muttered, rolling his eyes. "Like the fact that she isn't actively running away from you means anything."

"What are you talking about, Snart?" Nate asked.

Leonard frowned at him. "Look at her face, Nathaniel. She's terrified. She just jumped two hundred years into future and then got chased around by a bunch of adult strangers. You think a few minutes on a spaceship are going to erase that?"

"Well…no," Nate admitted. "No, they wouldn't. But I do have an idea that might make her feel better."

"What's that?" Charlie asked, intrigued.

"Say hello to… Beebo!" Nate said, producing a Cuddle Me Beebo toy from behind his back and holding it up proudly.

After a beat, Charlie asked, "Were you really standing there holding that this whole time just to make a dramatic reveal like that?"

"Maybe."

Leonard stared at him disapprovingly. "She's eleven," he finally said.

"So?" Nate asked.

"Name one eleven-year-old who still plays with Beebo, Nathaniel. Just name one."

Nate was starting to get frustrated with Snart's attitude. "Yeah, well…she doesn't know what age it's meant for. And, also, Beebo can bring fun to all ages."

"Eh," Charlie said with a little hesitation, "I might be on Snart's side with this one, mate."

"What?" Nate groaned. "Oh, come on." He set Beebo down and turned to face Leonard directly, crossing his arms in defiance. "Since when are you the expert on kids, Snart?"

"Since you guys proved that you clearly aren't," Leonard replied, his voice measured and much calmer than Nate's.

"Whoa there, mate," Charlie said, holding up her hands. "We did our best. She took off out of the blue."

"She took off because she was scared," Leonard corrected her. "You might not have been the first thing that scared her, but you're on the list. And she's still scared. You need a better remedy for that than Beebo, trust me."

"What do you know about kids?" Nate asked. "Have you ever had to take care of a scared little girl before?"

"Yes," Leonard stated.

"See? This is new territory for…wait, did you just say yes?"

Leonard sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, Nathaniel, I did. Now let me handle this."

Before Nate or Charlie could ask any questions, Leonard stepped past them and into the library. Nannerl went from staring at the books on the shelf next to her chair to warily looking straight at him. She froze when he took a step closer. Leonard stopped in his tracks and looked her in the eyes. "Nannerl?" he said in a soft voice. "Is that your name?"

Nate and Charlie stared at him, then at each other, then back at him. Neither of them had ever heard him speak with his usual snarky drawl.

"It's okay," he said, continuing to talk the same way. "I'm not going to hurt you." To prove his point, Leonard held his hands where Nannerl could see them. "See?"

She relaxed a little but kept watching him carefully. He took a few more steps toward her. Once he was directly in front of her, he knelt down to get closer to her level. "I know this is scary," he told her, speaking slowly and gently, "but you seem like a brave girl. Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Nannerl squirmed in her seat. "I don't…I don't understand," she said.

"I know. I know you don't understand. But I promise, we're going to keep you safe, and then we're going to take you back to your family."

Outside the door, Charlie whispered to Nate, "You're seeing this too, right?"

"I was about to ask you that," Nate whispered back.

"Why can't I go now?" Nannerl asked Snart, now at least comfortable enough with him to talk a little bit more. "They said I could go home. Why am I still here?"

"We need to take care of a few things first," he said, deciding against explaining the complexities of rifts in the timeline to an already very confused child. "But we'll be out of here soon. You just need to wait a little bit longer. Okay?"

Nannerl looked him in the eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Yes," she said quietly.

"Good girl. I knew you were brave."

She smiled slightly at the compliment, then asked him, "What about my brother?"

Something about the way she asked the question resonated with Leonard. "Your brother?" he repeated, almost quietly enough to be a whisper.

"We were playing hide-and-seek," Nannerl explained. "Then I was in that…other place. I don't know where he went." She grew bolder in the way she spoke. "They said he's okay, but I'm not supposed to leave him alone. I'm supposed to look out for him, not lose him. He's my little brother. Do you understand?"

Leonard could see every worry he had about Lisa reflected in Nannerl's much smaller face. "Yes," he answered solemnly. "I do understand." He glanced down at the ground for a moment, then looked back up at her with a determined expression. "You're not going to lose your brother," he said earnestly. "I won't let that happen. I'm going to make sure you get back to him safe and sound, like you were never gone. You just need to be patient and trust me. Can you do that?"

Nannerl looked away thoughtfully. Finally, she answered, "I can."

* * *

**A/N: As I've mentioned before, I started writing this fic and came up with most of the basic ideas for it before season 5 premiered, and I am not trying to be canon compliant to anything after season 4 because of that. (Although I might try to work in a cameo for Behrad later, we'll see...) This mission was one of the earliest ones I came up with a plot for, so even though I _love_ Lita, this version of Mick doesn't have a daughter yet and won't act like he does. If Lita were around, I think he'd probably be reacting a little differently about babysitting.**


	37. Memories and Card Tricks

"Right this way, Agent Green," a guard said as he led Gary through the metahuman wing of Iron Heights. Gary walked behind him, a briefcase in his hand, feeling more than a bit intimidated by his surroundings. "I can't imagine what Washington wants to question him about. He's been in here for a couple years now after the Flash brought him in."

"He's not involved in anything," Gary said, trying very hard not to give away too much about his work at the Time Bureau, or the existence of time travel. "There's just a connection I want to ask him about. Nothing else to it." As they reached the final door in their path, Gary stopped the guard just before entering. "This is top secret business, so if you wouldn't mind stepping out once we start talking…?"

"Of course," the guard replied. He pushed open the door. "Here he is, Agent Green."

Gary stepped into the room and saw a tall man in a prisoner's uniform. He was seated at a table with an empty chair on the opposite side. Interestingly, Gary noticed that the usual one-way reflective window in interrogation rooms was missing. He looked the man over for a moment, then, hoping to sound at least a little more confident than he felt, said, "Sam Scudder?"

Scudder glared back at him. "Yeah. What about it?"

Gary smiled and relaxed a little. "Okay, great. Just the man I want to see." He turned to the guard. "Give us a minute." The guard stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him. Gary walked over to the table and sat down across from Scudder. "Agent Gary Green," he said, extending his hand in greeting. "They call you the Mirror Master, right?" Scudder just scowled at him. Gary pulled his hand back and continued, "I just have a couple questions to ask you, and then I'll leave you alone."

"Whatever it is," Scudder growled, "I didn't do it. I haven't left this place in two years."

"Oh, I'm not here to accuse you of anything," Gary assured him.

Scudder frowned and looked at him confusedly. "Then what do you want?"

Gary pulled a folder out of his briefcase and opened it on the table. "I saw in some of our files," he said as he sifted through the papers in front of him, "that you were once involved with someone named…Leonard Snart." He looked up directly at Scudder's face as he said Snart's name.

Scudder grimaced. "Snart?" he said, as if the word tasted bitter in his mouth.

Gary grinned. "Ah, so you do know him."

"Yeah, I did," Scudder said. "But he's been dead for years. Longer than I've been in here."

"I see," Gary said, making a mental note that Snart's reappearance was still not well-known. "It says here that you were very adamant about finding him during the events leading to your arrest." He folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. "Care to elaborate?"

"Why?" Scudder asked. "What does it get me? Are you letting me out?"

"No," Gary replied. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Then I don't see the point of me telling you about Snart," Scudder told him. "I also don't see the point of talking about him now. He's long gone, and everyone knows it."

"Everyone?" Gary repeated, arching his eyebrows questioningly.

"Yeah, everyone. SCPD, the criminal networks of the city, all of them. Unless…" Scudder's eyes widened suddenly. He looked sharply at Gary. "…unless they're wrong."

"Uh…no, I'm sure they know what they're talking about," Gary said quickly, not wanting to reveal too much about Snart's return. Aside from the difficulty of explaining it, Scudder didn't seem like someone who would react positively to that news. Gary decided to play it safe. "I'm investigating some things that are, let's say…related to Snart. Things in the past. I came here to speak with people who interacted with him – well, actually I stopped by Jitters first because I've always wanted to go, and also the Central City Museum because it's kind of iconic – but _now_ I'm looking for people who interacted with him, and according to my research, you definitely did. All I want to know is a general picture. A character summary, if you will."

Scudder squinted at him skeptically. "You are the weirdest interrogator I've ever had."

"I get that a lot," Gary said with an innocent shrug.

"Tell you what," Scudder offered. "You want to know about Snart? I'll tell you about Snart. But not until you do something for me. I know you can't get me out, but there's something I bet you can do."

"What?" Gary asked.

"I've got a girlfriend in here," Scudder explained. "Rosa Dillon. She's in the metahuman wing, too, on the women's side, but they think it's too dangerous to let us near each other too often. Can't really blame them. We make a good team," he added with a smirk that disappeared after a second. "There are power dampeners all over this place, and just in case they fail, they've removed all highly reflective surfaces from the areas I go into. Bottom line, we're not nearly as much of a threat in here as we were out there. If someone from Washington gives the warden a suggestion, he won't refuse. Get me more time with Rosa, then we'll talk."

Gary sighed, relieved. "Whew, I was worried you were going to ask for something a lot worse." He grinned at Scudder. "I'll put in a request. You have my word. And, honestly, I really would like you to see your girlfriend more. It's sweet. I just love love, don't you?"

Scudder rolled his eyes at Gary's enthusiasm. "Uh…yeah."

Gary clicked a button on his time courier. It began audio recording. "Recording interview with Sam Scudder," Gary stated to his device before turning to Scudder again. "So…Snart?"

Scudder slouched back in his seat. "I met him back in 2013. We were in the same business. He was in the market for a new partner. I guess he'd fallen out with his old one."

"And by business, you mean…?"

"Stealing," Scudder answered. "We pulled a couple low-level jobs together. I brought Rosa into the team, and we pulled a couple more. Snart always wanted to be the one to plan every move any of us ever made. It was all right at first, but after a while, he seemed to get the impression that he was our boss. That was when we pulled one big heist together. It was him, me, Rosa, and a handful of criminal contacts Snart knew. They were just extra hands and got a small cut in exchange. It was really the three of us doing most of the work. It paid off and we walked away with plenty of money. But Snart was paranoid. He thought if we spent any of it right away, the cops would be on our tail. He told us to lay low. Well, he wasn't our boss, and we were getting pretty fed up with him acting like he was, so we didn't exactly do that."

"When was this?" Gary asked. "Just for the record."

"December 2013," Scudder replied. His scowl returned as he continued, "And do you want to know what happened next? You want to know how Snart decided to repay us for all our help?"

"Um…yes?"

"On December 11, I was hanging out with Rosa in an old warehouse," Scudder said. "We were having a great time, minding our own business. I hadn't heard from Snart in over a week. Like I said, he was trying to lay low. Then, out of nowhere, he shows up and starts telling us that he knows we've been spending the money we got from the heist. It was true, but it wasn't any of his business. We didn't spend anything that wasn't from our cut, and there wouldn't have been any money to spend in the first place if we hadn't done our share of the work. So I told him we were sick of him trying to control everything and wanted out. You know what he did then?"

Gary was now very invested in the story. He leaned forward in his seat. "What did he do?"

"That traitor tried to kill me." He hit his fist against the table in frustration, then took a breath and continued more calmly, "He pulled a gun on me and had some of the guys with him grab me and Rosa. I fought them off, but eventually, he had me pinned down. He was going to shoot."

"And then what happened?" Gary asked, eyes wide.

Scudder raised an eyebrow at Gary's response, then shrugged it off. "Then the particle accelerator happened. Snart noticed when it went off and took off running with his men. Rosa and I didn't get away. She went flying and I got thrown into a mirror. I think you know what happened next."

"Wow," Gary said. "So Snart is like your supervillain origin story. That's fascinating!"

"No," Scudder argued. "He isn't, because I'm not the villain in the story. I've done some bad stuff, and I don't deny it. But he's the one who turned on a friend just because he couldn't control me. He's a traitor and a scoundrel, and if I ever find out that he's secretly alive somewhere, I'll kill him again and make sure he never comes back." He watched Gary carefully as he said his final sentence to discern any hint of a reaction. "But you said he's still dead, didn't you, Agent Green?"

Gary forced himself to stare straight forward at Scudder. "Yes," he lied. "This is merely for research purposes. You don't have to worry about Snart."

Scudder looked away for a moment, apparently satisfied with Gary's answer. "Good."

Gary pressed a button on his time courier to stop the recording. He closed the folder and stood up briskly. "Thank you for your time, Sam. You've been very helpful. I'll put in a word with the warden about Rosa before I leave."

He exited the interrogation room and nodded to the guard standing just far enough away not to hear the conversation. As he walked down the narrow corridors toward the warden's office, Gary mulled over the findings of his talk with Scudder. _I thought Ava was overreacting at first_, he admitted to himself, _but maybe she's right to worry. Of course, one story might not really define who he is, and people can change. But if Scudder's description is accurate and Snart really is the same person as back then, I can only imagine how dangerous he might be on the Waverider…_

* * *

"Is this your card?" Snart asked, flipping over a king of spades from the middle of the card deck in his hands as he leaned back against the table in the library. Nannerl was seated across from him in one of the room's many armchairs.

She gasped. "It is!" She picked it up and examined it while Leonard smirked proudly. "How did you do that?" she demanded. "Was that magic?"

"No," he replied. "It was skill." He picked up the card and shuffled it back into the deck. "Do you want to give it a shot?"

Nannerl shook her head. "I don't know how."

"I'll teach you."

Nannerl smiled as she considered the idea. "Is it hard?"

"Not very. I learned it when I was around your age. It just takes practice."

She held out her hands, reaching for the card deck. "Teach me," she said. "I want to show Wolfgang. I want to see the look on his face when I guess his card," she added with a smirk.

Leonard handed her the deck and sat down on the floor in front of her. "I bet it'll blow his mind. Now, here's how you start…"

Just outside the library door, Nate stood quietly watching the scene. He heard footsteps and looked away to see Charlie dragging Zari over. "Oh, there you are, Z," Nate said, acknowledging her.

"What part of 'I'm busy' do you two not understand?" Zari asked.

"You're going to want to see this," Nate assured her. He nodded toward the library. "Look at Snart."

Zari watched for a few seconds as Leonard explained the details of his card trick. "Huh," she said casually. "I guess the bank robber makes a good babysitter. Who knew?"

"Doesn't it go against, like…everything about him?" Nate asked her. "I mean, I usually feel a low to moderate level of fear around Snart, but this is so weird, it might actually be scarier."

"I wouldn't call it scary," Charlie spoke up. "But it is unexpected."

Zari thought about it. "I guess, but it kind of makes sense. Doesn't he have a little sister or something?"

"Oh, that's right," Charlie said, remembering. "He said he took care of her when she was little, didn't he? He seemed pretty close with her from the way he was talking. That does make this a lot more believable."

Nate looked confusedly at the two of them. "Okay, Gideon mentioned the sister, but how do you know that much about their relationship? Did he talk to you about it?"

"No," Charlie explained. "Mona had us watch some old security footage…"

"Charlie," Zari warned, hoping to get her to stop talking before she gave away too much.

"…because she wanted to prove that Snart and the captain are into each other."

Zari sighed. "So much for keeping it on the down low."

"He was going to find out eventually, mate," Charlie pointed out.

Nate now looked even more confused. "Snart and Sara? I mean, I know they're friends but…no way. That's impossible."

"That's what I said," Zari told him. "But honestly, I kind of get it now."

"Isn't he gay, though?" Nate asked. "I mean, Leo was gay, and Sara's doppelganger on Earth-X was also bi, so I just assumed…"

"Earth-X was a universe where the Nazis won World War Two and evil Oliver Queen was married to evil Kara Zor-El," Zari said. "One guy having a different sexual orientation from his doppelganger isn't the most unbelievable difference relative to all that."

"That is very true," Nate conceded. _Would Sara really be interested in a guy who worked with Damien Darhk and Malcom Merlyn, though?_ he wondered. _Sure, she's friends with him. And she's friends with Nora, who worked even more closely with Damien Darhk. But romantic interest goes beyond friendship. That seems like a stretch, even under the circumstances._ He decided to redirect the conversation before he could dwell too much on the Legion of Doom. "Okay, but you've got to admit this is weird. I've never seen him act like this. It's kind of freaking me out."

As the three of them watched, Nannerl made her first attempt at the card trick. "Is this your card?" she asked in her tiny, accented voice as she flipped over a card from the middle of the deck.

Leonard chuckled. "Almost, kid."

Nannerl frowned, then looked at the card she was holding up. "What? But I…"

Leonard pointed at the card sitting under it. "Try that one."

She pulled it out and flipped it over. "Was it this one?" she asked, showing it to him.

"That's the one," he replied.

Nannerl groaned and slumped against the cushions of her chair. "I was so close!"

"You'll get there. You almost had it. If you give it another shot, you'll probably get it right."

Nannerl sat up, a look of determination on her face. "I want to try again. Let me do it again."

"Sure," Leonard said, picking up the deck and shuffling it again before handing it back to her. "You've got this, kid," he encouraged her gently. "Just go slow and think it through."

"You hear that?" Nate asked, just quietly enough for Snart not to hear him. "I have never heard him talk that way to anybody before. He's always all snarly and…supervillain-y."

"Wow, so not everyone acts exactly the same all the time?" Zari deadpanned. "Shocker." She dropped her sarcasm and continued, "Okay, I'll admit that it's a little weird to see. I wouldn't have expected this from him either. But it shouldn't freak you out this much. If anything, you should just be glad that someone on this ship is this good with kids while we've got one of the OG child stars onboard. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said as she turned around, "I've got updates to finish and I wouldn't want to keep Gideon waiting." She walked away in the direction of the engine room.

* * *

Sara, Mick, Nora, and Ray wove their way between cars in the Keystone Mall parking lot, searching for any sign of a rift. "It can't be too far from here," Sara assured them after a significant period of unsuccessful looking. "There's no way Nannerl traveled super far on foot to get into the mall."

"Where else is left, then?" Mick asked. "All I see out here are cars, and not animatronic ones either."

"I think you mean 'anachronistic,' Mick," Ray corrected him.

"That's what I said," Mick grunted.

Nora looked around, slowly taking in her surroundings. "There are a few buildings down the road," she said, pointing at the near distance on the other side of the busy street feeding into the parking lot. "It looks like some kind of school. She could have been dropped there by the rift, then crossed the street and walked a few minutes to get to the mall."

"Good eye, Nora," Sara said. "If she wound up near a school in the afternoon, she might have seen other kids walk toward the mall and followed them in. We should check it out."

As the four of them made their way out of the parking lot, Nora moved closer to Ray's side. "So…Ray?"

"What, babe?" he asked with a sweet smile.

"You know how you said Vandal Savage had a really creepy thing for your ex? Like, world domination level of creepy?"

Ray raised an eyebrow, unsure of where this was going. "Yeah?"

"Well, Snart and I got to talking…and you definitely didn't tell me everything about Kendra."

Mick and Sara snickered as they heard her. Ray froze, flustered. "What did Snart tell you?" he asked slowly.

"That you were engaged, you got lost in the past together for two years, you got crazy jealous when her soulmate got reincarnated in the future, you had a lucky water vase…"

Mick and Sara snickered again. Ray sighed. "Of course he told you about the lucky water vase."

"…and she was a reincarnated Egyptian priestess. That part was actually pretty interesting. She sounded kind of cool from the way Snart described her. Although the fact that you only made a move after another teammate expressed interest in her is a bit concerning."

"Okay, how did Snart even know that part?" Ray asked with an accusing look toward Sara and Mick.

"Don't blame us," Sara replied, an amused smirk on her face. "You know he notices everything."

Ray turned to Nora and the two of them stopped walking while Mick and Sara continued toward the street. "Look," he told her, "I was a little bit different back then. I mean, I was still me, but I was going through some stuff. I was still struggling with what happened to my first fiancée. Plus, the whole world thought I was dead for way too long just because I got stuck at a shrunken size, so that was an existential crisis of its own. Not to mention…"

"Ray, it's okay," Nora said with a warm smile. "I'm the last person who should judge anyone for their past. I just don't want to be left out of the loop about stuff. Just be totally transparent from here on out, even about the past."

"Even the lucky water vase?"

"Especially the lucky water vase." She smirked, then jokingly nudged his arm. "I'm kidding, dork! I don't care about the water vase." She crossed her arms, still smirking. "I do care about the whole soulmate thing, though. In what universe did you think that would end well for you?"

Ray facepalmed. "I can't believe this," he muttered.

"Hey, you're the one who left me alone with Snart," Nora pointed out. "If there's one thing I've learned since he came back, it's how much he enjoys roasting you."

"I can't believe he had an actual conversation with you, though," Ray replied. "I've been trying to bond with him all day and got nowhere. How did you do it? What's your secret?"

Nora shrugged. "I don't know. We just found stuff in common and started talking about it. It wasn't that hard."

"Then why can't I do that?" Ray asked. "I already tried _Star Wars_ and _Lord of the Rings_."

"Try something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. You've been around him longer. I'm sure you can think of something." Nora paused, then looked him in the eyes as she got an idea. "You know, when we were talking, there was one thing I said about you that actually impressed him."

"Really?" Ray asked, shocked. "What was it?"

"I told him that you broke me out of prison with the time stone," she explained. "That surprised him. It might have even earned you a little respect. Of course, he did immediately go back roasting you after that, but still, it's something."

Ray tilted his head to the side, considering her curiously. "But how does that help me talk to Snart? I can't exactly break you out of prison again."

"No," Nora said, "but you can try to get on his level. You did something he would do when he wasn't expecting that from you, and it caught his attention. Just think like Snart."

"But…I don't think like Snart."

"Try to. Use that super genius brain of yours and try to speak his language."

At the edge of the street, Mick turned around and waved his arms over his head. "Hey!" he called out to Nora and Ray, who were now very far behind. "You two coming or what?"

Nora patted Ray on the back encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll figure it out." She walked past him to catch up with Mick and Sara.

Ray stood back a moment. "Speak his language?" he repeated, trying to wrap his head around the idea.

"Haircut!" Mick's voice shouted.

"Coming!" Ray exclaimed, hurrying after the rest of the group.

* * *

Nannerl carefully flipped over a card from the middle of her deck. "Is…this your card?" she asked, then held her breath anxiously as she waited for the answer.

Leonard smirked proudly as he sat on the floor in front of her. "That's it, kid."

She let out her breath and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? I did it?"

"You did it."

She grinned. "Let's do it again!"

"Nice to see you're having fun," Leonard said, taking the cards and preparing to shuffle them again.

"I can't wait to show my brother," Nannerl said. "He will love it."

"I'm sure he will," Leonard said as he moved the cards in his hands. "You know, if you practice enough before you show your brother, you'll be able to do it really fast. Think about how he'd react to that."

"Practice does make perfect," Nannerl agreed, taking the deck. "That's what our father always says."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, and I'm supposed to practice my pieces for a concert tonight," Nannerl continued. "He'd be disappointed if he saw I was playing with cards instead. Pick one." She fanned the deck out and let Leonard select one.

"Well, it's not every day something like this happens," Leonard reminded her as he studied his card. "If he's a good father, he'll just be happy you're safe." He handed the card back to her and she worked it back into the deck.

"I'm sure he will be," Nannerl said. "Father is strict at times, but he loves us both very much. But I like practicing. I like to play music, and I like to do it well. I can't do that if I don't practice." She moved the cards in her hands carefully, following Leonard's instructions. "Wolfgang only started playing because he saw me practicing so much and wanted to join in."

"Is that so?"

"It is. But he's nearly as good as I am now." She flipped over a card. "Is this yours?"

"That's it. You're a fast learner."

"Thank you." Nannerl looked away wistfully. "I don't often get to perform in palaces for nobles like this." Her small brow furrowed with concern. "Are you sure I won't miss the concert? I have been in this place for a very long time, and I am certain that my brother is getting worried. I do not want him to worry, and if he throws a fit and won't play, our father will be very cross."

"Don't worry about any of that right now," Leonard said reassuringly. "I said I'd get you back to your brother soon, and I will. We just need to wait until the rest of the team gets back." He watched her face carefully and did not see her concerned expression change. He decided to switch tactics and find a new distraction. "Tell me about your concert," he said. "It's you and your brother, right?"

"Yes," she said, seeming to relax a little bit. "We are playing two pieces together, and then two solos each. I am quite excited, but I would be very ashamed if I made a mistake in front of so many important people. They're all so elegant."

"Elegant, huh?"

"Yes, and I have a lovely gown just for the occasion. My mother had it made. It matches Wolfgang's suit. And I have jewelry, too. It's gold, and it sparkles and shimmers. I adore it." She noticed a strange look on Leonard's face. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no." He quickly turned his eyes away from her. "Just thinking."

Nannerl didn't seem entirely convinced. "About what?"

"Nothing. You just…you kind of remind me of somebody."

"Who?"

"Nobody. Forget I said anything." He continued to keep his gaze fixed on the floor for a moment, then looked her in the eyes with an idea in his head. "You ever had ice cream, kid?"

"Once," she said with a nod.

"What if I told you there was a room on this ship that could make you ice cream?" he asked. "Not just ice cream, either. Any kind of food you could ever want. What would you say?"

Nannerl stared at him in confusion. "I would say that is impossible."

"Not here, it isn't." He stood up. "Want me to show you?"

She hesitated, then looked warily at the doorway. Finally, she hopped off the chair and joined him at his side. "I am a bit hungry," she admitted, still a bit hesitant about the seemingly impossible thing he was offering her.

"Then, let's fix that." He started walking out of the room. She followed just one step behind him. "Trust me, kid, you're going to love this…"


	38. Legends Babysitting

**A/N: Sorry it's been a while! My life's been a little crazy. I'm hoping to keep updating more regularly now.**

* * *

Constantine adjusted his eighteenth-century clothes and groaned. "This is quite possibly the most boring mission Sara's ever sent me off on," he told Mona. "We're sitting here doing what? Watching nothing happen and making sure nothing continues to happen. I could be working on dark dimension business right now. That would be a lot more helpful. And interesting."

Mona crossed her arms. "Constantine, this is important. If we don't keep an eye on Wolfgang until his sister gets back, a major aberration could happen without warning."

"What aberration?" John asked, gesturing toward the room across the hallway where the six-year-old prodigy was still located. "He's doing nothing. Nothing at all. Literally nothing." After a beat, John had a realization. "Mona," he said, holding up his index finger, "do you hear anything?"

Mona shook her head.

"Exactly," he said. "Little Mozart was practicing his harpsichord when we left. Now, it's quiet, and it's been quiet for a long time."

Mona peered at the room's slightly open door, trying to get a glimpse of the young child inside. "Do you think that's a bad sign?"

"I don't know, but I doubt it's a good one," John replied. "More likely than not, he just got tired and stopped. But his dad did seem pretty adamant about keeping it up."

Mona understood where John's logic was going. "And he only seemed reluctant to practice when his sister went missing," she said. "It could be a coincidence, of course, but if Nannerl's absence is causing even a slight deviation from history, we need to know."

"Precisely, love."

The two of them looked down each direction of the hallway to make sure no one was watching, then quickly and silently slipped through the crack door and into the room. Wolfgang was, as they'd guessed, not seated at his instrument. He was instead standing beside a tall window at the far end of the room, staring at the gardens outside. When he heard footsteps, he turned around and looked at them curiously. "Oh, hello," he said. "Did my father send you here?"

"Uh…no," Constantine answered. "We work in the palace and just wanted to check up on you." He nudged Mona.

"Yeah," she said quickly, backing him up. "Just wanted to make sure you're doing okay."

Wolfgang studied them for a second, then shrugged and turned back around to face the window. "I'm fine. Do you know where my sister is?"

Mona walked across the room until she was close to the young boy. Constantine followed, but hung back a few feet from them. "Not exactly," Mona answered, "but I know she'll be back soon."

Wolfgang turned his face toward her. "Really?" he asked. "Why isn't she here yet?"

"Because she's on her way," Mona assured him. She glanced back at the unattended harpsichord. "Are you…uh…performing tonight?"

Wolfgang nodded. "Me and my sister."

"Sounds like fun. Should you be getting ready, or…?"

Wolfgang crossed his arms and pouted. "No!"

John raised an eyebrow and took a step closer. "And why not?" he asked.

"Because I don't want to."

"But why don't you want to?" Mona asked. "Isn't music kind of your whole thing?"

Wolfgang continued to pout. "I want to play with my sister. It's not fair if I have to practice and she doesn't. And it's no fun without her either." He stomped his foot. "I won't play without my sister."

"But what about tonight?" Mona asked. "Isn't it a big night for you?"

"I don't care." He sat down on the floor with a tiny frown on his adorable six-year-old face. "I won't play anything for anybody until my sister gets back. And you can't make me!"

Mona glanced back at Constantine for help. He seemed as unsure as she was. Before either of them could say anything else, they heard footsteps and voices approaching the room. Mona quickly told the boy, "We're playing hide-and-seek. Don't tell them we're here." She ran to John, grabbed his arm, and pulled him behind the long curtains hanging on either side of the window.

"Hide-and-seek?" John whispered inside the curtain. "Really?"

"You got a better excuse?" Mona hissed back.

"Well, he is six," John admitted. "I guess he'd buy it."

"Shh!" Mona shushed him. "Listen!"

They heard a voice that they recognized as belonging to Wolfgang's father. "Son, what did I say about practicing?" he asked.

Wolfgang's voice answered, "I said I didn't want to."

"I thought you wanted to perform tonight. You were quite excited this morning. You want to be ready, don't you?"

"I don't want to play without Nannerl. It's supposed to be both of us."

"You will play with her tonight. You can still practice your solos alone."

"But I don't want to!"

"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, do you want to be prepared for your concert or not?"

The young boy's voice sounded much angrier. "I'm not playing any concert without my sister!" he shouted.

"Please calm down, son," his father's voice responded patiently. "You won't play the concert without her."

"Then where is she? Why isn't she here? I won't play without her! I won't!"

"That is enough," his father said sternly. A beat of silence followed. Apparently, Wolfgang had stopped arguing. "Your sister is somewhere within the palace. I am sure she will be back here very soon. But her temporary absence does not mean you have any less obligation. This concert tour is your big introduction to the world. People – _important_ people – are waiting to see you. Would you really throw away everything we have worked for now? If you do, you might never have a chance like this again."

"But what about Nannerl?" Mozart asked. "It's her concert, too. It's not fair."

"It doesn't have to be fair." His father sighed, then spoke again, "I understand your frustration. I, too, want to find your sister and am worried about her. I will continue searching the grounds until she is found. But I will not have you back out of your commitments. You must practice now so that you can perform later. Am I clear?"

"But I don't want to."

"Am I clear?"

"…yes, Father."

Mona and John heard the older Mozart's footsteps exit the room. "This could be bigger than we thought," Mona whispered, still hiding in the curtain.

"Agreed," John whispered back. "If this concert is what starts that boy's career, and he misses it over his sister's disappearance, we could have a massive ripple effect on our hands."

"Exactly. You know what that means?"

"Yes, love. We need to…"

"…help young Mozart discover his inspiration!" Mona said enthusiastically.

"…alert the Legends and tell them to hurry up," John finished at the exact same time. He gave Mona a strange look. "Sorry, what?"

"Crazy things can happen with time travel," Mona explained. "There's always a chance that the Legends won't be able to get Nannerl back here at the exact time she's needed. That means that in order to save Wolfgang's legacy, we need to inspire him to find his love of music with or without his sister."

John sighed and closed his eyes, taking his time before forming a response. "Mona," he said slowly, "I realize that some people find your innocent idealism charming…but without even thinking about it much, I can come up with about a dozen different reasons why that plan is ridiculous."

"More ridiculous than hiding in a curtain while wearing powdered wigs and listening to one of the most famous classical musicians in the world throw a tiny tantrum?"

John hesitated, opened his mouth to respond, and then closed it again. He thought about their situation for a moment, then said, "Well…you might have a point."

Mona grinned. "So you'll do it?"

John rolled his eyes. "I suppose." He sidestepped around her and pulled the curtain away so they could both return to the young boy's view. "But I still hope the Legends get here fast."

* * *

Zari stepped into the Waverider galley and stopped suddenly as she stared at the sight that awaited her. "Uh…Snart? What are you doing?"

Leonard didn't look away as he carefully placed a cherry on top of an elaborate ice cream sundae. "Robbing Fort Knox, obviously. What does it look like I'm doing?"

Zari stared at him for another moment, then shrugged and walked over to Gideon's food fabrication system. "That's for Mozart's sister, isn't it?" she asked as she entered instructions into Gideon's machinery.

"She's not 'Mozart's sister,'" Leonard corrected her. "She's a Mozart, too. There happen to be two kids with that name."

"Right. Got it."

Suddenly, Nannerl ran through the doorway and into the kitchen. She was no longer dressed in her original clothes, apparently having switched them out for an extremely 1983-esque outfit including jeans, tennis shoes, a shirt covered in bright yellow polka dots, and a high ponytail pulled into a gold, sparkly bow. "Snart!" she shouted. "Look!"

He looked up at her over top of the ice cream sundae and couldn't help smiling slightly when he noticed the gold sparkles. "You've got taste, kid."

Zari studied Nannerl's new outfit, then turned to Leonard. "Fabrication room?"

"She asked why everybody on this team dresses the way they do," Leonard explained, "so I told her how it works. Naturally, she wanted to try it out for herself."

"Oh, naturally," Zari said. "So you told her how to find the fabrication room and let her play around with Gideon's preset 1980s selection while you made her ice cream?"

"Pretty much."

"It's so much easier to run in this!" Nannerl exclaimed as she sprinted back and forth across the room. She changed directions and ran up next to Leonard. "How does it make clothes like that?" she asked.

"No idea," Leonard answered. "That's just Gideon."

Nannerl looked at him confusedly. "Gideon?" she repeated. "Who's Gideon?"

"I am, Miss Mozart," Gideon's disembodied voice echoed through the space around them.

Nannerl let out a little shout of shock, then looked around to find the source of the voice. She pointed at Zari. "Did you do that?"

"Nope," Zari answered.

Leonard knelt down to Nannerl's level. She turned around to face him as he said calmly, "Don't worry, kid. She's not going to jump out and scare you. She's not a person. But she can hear you anywhere on this ship."

"What does she do?" Nannerl asked.

"She answers questions and makes stuff work," Leonard told her.

"Bit of an oversimplification," Zari commented.

"It certainly is," Gideon's voice affirmed.

Nannerl jumped a little at the sound of Gideon's voice. "Hey," Leonard said gently, "don't be scared. She's just here to help, okay?" He paused a second, waiting for her to relax before suggesting, "Do you want to ask her something?" Nannerl hesitated, so Leonard prompted her again, "Go on, ask her anything."

Nannerl thought for a second, then asked, "Gideon, are you a ghost?"

Leonard smirked amusedly as Gideon's voice provided an answer. "No, Miss Mozart," the A.I. said. "I am not a ghost. I am an artificial intelligence system designed to operate all technological functions of this ship, including the fabrication room in which you just selected your new outfit."

Nannerl gasped. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "That's amazing!"

"You know what else is amazing?" Leonard replied. "Ice cream. Sit down and I'll bring you some." He straightened up and led her over to the table.

"Z? Is that you?" Nate asked, sticking his head in from the hallway. "Have you seen..." He noticed Nannerl's outfit first, then watched curiously as Leonard pulled out a chair for her at the table. "Wait…what's going on?" he asked as Charlie joined him in the doorway.

"Yeah, what's all this?" Charlie asked.

"I let a little girl play dress up and am now giving her ice cream," Leonard said dryly. "Is that a crime around here? Not that I'd care much if it was."

"Uh…no," Nate replied, pleasantly surprised. "No, it isn't."

"It's actually kind of nice," Charlie added.

"He also introduced her to Gideon," Zari pointed out.

"She's only going to be on a spaceship from the future once," Leonard replied. "She might as well enjoy it a little." He placed the ice cream sundae on the table in front of Nannerl, who stared at it eagerly. "Help yourself, kid."

Zari grabbed the donut Gideon had created for her with one hand and patted her boyfriend on the shoulder with her other hand. "Good luck."

"Good luck?" Nate repeated as Zari walked past him toward the doorway. "Where are you going? And why were you even in here?"

"Back to work. Programming makes me hungry." She took a bite out of her donut, then disappeared into the hallway.

Leonard sat down across the table from Nannerl, not paying any attention to the others. "How's the ice cream?" he asked, looking over the sundae that was already quickly shrinking in size.

"I haven't had it this way before," Nannerl answered, "but I like it."

"Thought you would."

Nate joined them at the table. Charlie followed and took a seat beside him. "Hey," Nate said with a friendly smile in Nannerl's direction. "You doing all right?"

Nannerl smiled and nodded, though her mouth was too full of ice cream to form a verbal answer.

"Good," Nate said, sitting down in the chair closest to Leonard. Leonard eyed the very small distance between them and shifted his seat just an inch farther away from Nate. Nate noticed, but pretended not to.

"What do you think of the ship?" Charlie asked the girl. "Pretty nice, isn't it?"

"Yes," Nannerl answered enthusiastically. "It's incredible. I can't believe it's real. I just wish my brother could see it." She looked to Leonard. "Are you sure he's all right? It's been a little while since I got here."

"Your brother is perfectly safe," Leonard assured her. "He's exactly where you left him, and we should be able to take you back pretty soon." He gave Nate and Charlie a sharp look. "Right?"

"No word from the rest of the team yet," Charlie told him with a nonchalant shrug.

"But they've already been gone a while," Nate added optimistically. "They should find the rift any minute now." He looked back at Nannerl. "Just hang in there for a bit longer. Okay?"

"I suppose," she replied, though her voice sounded somewhat disappointed.

Nate tried to think of something else to talk about. "So…what do you like to do, Nannerl? Besides eat ice cream."

"Music," she replied.

"Brilliant," Charlie said with an approving smile. "I knew I liked you."

"Anything else?" Nate asked. "Do you have any hobbies? Stuff you do in your free time?"

She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and said, "I play games with my brother sometimes."

"Okay," Nate said, nodding. "What kind of games?"

"Oh, anything, really. But I do spend the majority of my time practicing and studying."

"That's it?" Nate asked. "Doesn't that ever get tiring?"

"Sometimes," Nannerl said. She took another bite out of her sundae, swallowed it, then continued, "but I don't mind. I want to keep getting better. And if I do really well, my father says I can travel to even more places and play for even more people."

"A bit of a showoff, aren't you?" Charlie joked.

Nannerl shook her head. "I'm not a showoff. I just like doing it."

"Ignore her," Leonard said, earning him a scowl from Charlie. He glanced sideways at Nate and asked, "You sure Sara hasn't called yet?"

"Positive," Nate replied. "But I can't imagine them taking much longer."

"Right." Leonard looked back at Nannerl. "You like music and games, huh?" She nodded. "Then I've got something you can do until we get you home. Wait here." He stood up and started to walk away.

"What?" Nate asked as he left. "Where are you going?"

"I'll be back."

Nate looked awkwardly back at Nannerl. "Uh…he'll be back."

* * *

"I already told you," Wolfgang insisted with a huff. "I don't want to play anything without Nannerl."

"Are you sure?" Mona asked. "Isn't there anything you want to play?"

"No."

"Not even your favorite piece?"

"No!"

Constantine leaned down and whispered into Mona's ear. "Are you sure about this?" he asked. "Six-year-olds can be pretty stubborn."

"He's Wolfgang Amadeus freaking Mozart," Mona whispered back. "He's got to have a genuine love of music somewhere in there. We just need to find it." She walked over to the harpsichord and looked it over. She'd had piano lessons as a child, but she'd forgotten most of what she'd learned. The keyboard did seem at least a little familiar, though. "What about…" She pressed down a finger on one key, then quickly pulled it away. "Nope, not that one." She tried another one. "There it is." She sat down and slowly picked her way through Chopsticks. "This is fun, right?" she asked, smiling brightly at Wolfgang.

Neither Wolfgang nor Constantine seemed particularly entertained. Constantine, however, was the only one out of the two of them to think of something sarcastic to say. "Wow," he deadpanned. "I am overflowing with inspiration."

Mona stopped playing and glared at him, then looked back at Wolfgang with a much friendlier expression. "Don't listen to him. He thinks it's cool not to like things. But I know you like things, especially music. Don't you?"

Wolfgang looked down at the ground, thinking. He finally looked back up and answered, "I like music, but I don't want to do it alone. My sister is the best. I can't play if she isn't with me."

"Well," Mona suggested, speaking slowly as she put the idea together, "if you don't want to play alone…why don't we all play together?"

Constantine blinked. "Sorry, what? You think we can play at his level?"

Mona mouthed at him, "Do a spell."

He mouthed back, "That's insane."

She mouthed, "Just do one."

"Uh…right," Constantine said. He placed his hands behind his back while he pulled out the tiny pouch of magic powder that he had stored up his sleeve in case of an emergency. "We can play music. Together. That is something we do." Mona scooted to one side of the bench and he squeezed in next to her on the other side. The keyboard was just long enough for them both to have enough space for their hands. "Can't believe you talked me into this," he muttered. "Total waste of magic for a parlor trick. If it goes wrong, I'm blaming you." In one quick, smooth motion, he sprinkled the powder onto the keys and whispered an incantation. The edges of the keys glowed for a moment, then began to move by themselves, playing a melody complex enough to justify four hands. Mona and Constantine quickly moved their fingers over the keys, hiding the fact that they weren't really the ones playing.

Wolfgang did seem a little more intrigued this time. He walked over to the harpsichord, but he was thankfully just short enough not to be able to see the slight differences between the two adults' hand movements and the motions of the keys. "You're really good," he said.

"Thanks," Mona said cheerfully. "Do you want to try now?"

Wolfgang thought about it for a moment, then answered simply, "No."

"Maybe something a bit more futuristic will get his attention," Constantine whispered to Mona. "Let's try a little Tchaikovsky." He tapped his knuckles against the side of the instrument and the keys obediently started to play an excerpt from the Nutcracker Suite.

"You like classical music?" Mona asked, almost forgetting to continue the illusion of playing in her surprise.

"I know a few composers, love. That's all. You don't see me gushing about it like Dr. Heywood."

Wolfgang sat down on the floor, listening to the music. "I haven't heard that one," he said. "Did you write it?"

"No, someone else did," Mona replied. "Have you ever composed any pieces, Wolfgang?"

"Yes," the boy answered with a proud smile.

"Do you like playing pieces you wrote?" she asked.

"Yes," he said again.

"Do you want to play one now, with us?"

He folded his arms across his chest and frowned. "No!"

"Bollocks," Constantine muttered. "This isn't going to work. We should bail and call the Legends."

"Not yet," Mona insisted. "Let's just try one more. Pick something else."

"Like what?"

"Anything."

Constantine rolled his eyes, then knocked against the side of the harpsichord again. This time, the keys began to play a piece by Beethoven. Once again, Wolfgang seemed intrigued by the new piece. "I like that one," he said.

"You do?" Mona asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Want to try it? Or any other piece you like?"

"No," Wolfgang replied as he turned and began to walk away. "I'm going to find my sister." He approached the door and reached up to grab the knob.

Without thinking, Mona sprang off the bench and exclaimed, "Wait! Stop!"

It only took a second for her to realize her mistake. Wolfgang turned to look at her and could clearly see the keys of the harpsichord moving by themselves. All three of them froze suddenly, Mona with a guilty deer-in-the-headlights look, John with a frustrated scowl at Mona, and Wolfgang with a wide-eyed expression of wonder. John quickly ended the spell, but it was too late.

"You made it play itself!" Wolfgang exclaimed, stepping away from the door. "It was like magic! I didn't know you could do magic!"

Mona and John exchanged a quick glance. "What did I say about this going wrong?" John asked.

"I know, I know," Mona said with a sigh. "You're blaming me."

* * *

"Not that stealing my girlfriend's video game console is something I approve of," Nate said as he watched Leonard and Charlie set it up in the parlor, "but when you left suddenly like that, I felt like you were about to do something a little more ominous."

"Would you have preferred that, Nathaniel?" Leonard asked without looking up, fully focused on connecting the device.

"Uh, no. Definitely not." He paused, then added, "Just to be clear, though, I am not defending you when Zari finds out."

"Eh, people take it all the time," Charlie said. "At this point, she should start locking it up somewhere."

"That really wouldn't have made a difference," Leonard muttered.

"How did you even know she had this game, though?" Nate asked. "Or where she kept it?"

"Saw her playing it once, and it wasn't too hard to guess." He turned the game on. "And…done." He turned around to look at Nannerl, who was sitting on the floor, watching everything unfold with visible confusion. "Ever play guitar, kid?"

"It's not one of my main instruments," she said, "but I know how."

"Then you might want to give this game a shot. Charlie?"

Charlie handed Nannerl the guitar-shaped controller matching Zari's Guitar Hero game. Nannerl took the controller in her hands and stared at it, uncertain of what it was or how to use it. "I…um…what…is it?"

"You're a prodigy," Charlie pointed out. "I'm sure you'll figure it quick enough." She selected the tutorial option on the screen and began showing the girl how it worked. "Pretend it's a guitar, all right? You see those little lines and dashes? They match these buttons…"

Nate stepped back toward where Leonard was leaning back against the wall. "You don't want to join in?" he asked with a smile.

"I don't really do video games," Leonard replied.

"Really? From how easily you were able to set it up, I thought you had a lot of experience."

"I also know how to rewire every alarm system I've ever run into. Plugging in a game console isn't rocket science, Nathaniel."

"Snart?" Nannerl asked as she attempted to follow the moving shapes on the screen in front of her. "Am I doing it right?"

Leonard nodded at her. "You're doing great, kid."

"Now," Charlie said as she scrolled through the song selection page, "how about we find a fun one to try, yeah? Hm…let's see…"

While Charlie selected a song, Nate continued talking to Leonard. "I've got to say, Snart, you have really been surprising me today."

Leonard glanced sideways at him. "Is that so?" he drawled.

"Oh, I don't mean it in a bad way," Nate clarified. "I'm just seeing another side of you that I'm not used to seeing, and I like it. Seriously." He waited for Leonard to say something in response, but he didn't. "So about that bro hug…"

Leonard held up a hand in the space between them to prevent any attempts at a hug. "Don't."

Nate took one sidestep away from Leonard. "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's cool. We'll get there one day." He grinned at Leonard. "You're missing out, though. I've been told I give great hugs."

"Good for you," Leonard said, not sounding particularly impressed. He stepped away from the wall and crouched down to where Nannerl was sitting. "How's the game?"

Nannerl's eyes were fully glued to the screen as her fingers moved up and down the "guitar." She held a determined, focused expression on her face as she hit a complicated chord. When she succeeded, she grinned at the positive message on the screen. "This is fun!" she exclaimed, moving forward to the next chord. The song ended and Nannerl read her score. "Is that good?" she asked, looking each direction at Leonard and Charlie for an answer.

"Not bad for your first round," Charlie answered. "Maybe we can find you a real electric guitar somewhere so I can show you how to play some of my band's stuff. It's a little intense for most children, but I bet you'd be into it."

Nannerl's eyes grew wide. "You're in a band?" she asked Charlie. "Do you play music for people? Do you get to go all over the world?"

"Mostly just London," Charlie clarified, "but yeah, people show up. We've even had some big crowds a few times. Our demographic is pretty specific, but they're also consistent."

"Wow," Nannerl said in awe. "That sounds amazing. I've never met a woman who performed music publicly for people."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Never? I thought your family was all about show business."

"Well, yes," Nannerl explained, "but I always travel with my father, and he's the one who arranges everything. Nobody sees a problem with a girl performing alongside her family. But I know that some people think it's improper for grown women to do things like that alone, especially if they're doing it for money." She looked back at Charlie and grinned at her. "But I think it sounds fun!"

Leonard remained quiet for a moment, thinking. "Playing music is pretty much your whole life, isn't it?" he asked her. "Was that your dad's idea?"

She turned to look at him with some traces of confusion on her face. "Sort of. It was his idea to teach me first, but if I wanted to stop, I know he'd let me. But I don't want to stop. I love it. And I've written some pieces, too, so it's not just performing."

"Right," he said. "And if nobody told you it was wrong, would you want to keep doing it after you're grown up?"

"Yes, of course," she replied, though she seemed even more confused about this question. "I'd like that very much. But I don't really think about that now. I won't be grown up for a while. Maybe people will think differently by then. And even if they don't, I'm sure my father will advise me on the best path to take at that point. He always knows best." She tilted her head to the side. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," he answered. He nodded toward the screen. "Want to try again?" She nodded eagerly. "Thought so. Charlie, help her out."

Charlie began picking out a new song, capturing Nannerl's full attention. Once he knew she was no longer paying attention to him, Leonard stood up and began to walk out of the room silently. Nate spoke as he passed him, "Hey, you're not stealing another game, are you?"

"No," Leonard replied coldly, turning a corner in the direction of the library with no additional explanation.

"Then what are you doing?" Nate asked. He got no response as Leonard disappeared from view. "Why does he always do that?" he asked himself.

A few moments later, Leonard entered the library. "Gideon," he said, "I need information."

"On what topic, Mr. Snart?" Gideon's voice replied.

"Maria Anna Mozart," he said. "I've got some questions that need answers."

"Are you certain this is a wise decision?" Gideon asked. "You seem to be developing quite a personal attachment to this particular mission…"

"Did I ask for your opinion?" he said, abruptly cutting her off.

"No, Mr. Snart. You did not."

"That's what I thought." He placed his hands on the table in front of him and looked at the blank screen. "What happens to her?"

"Could you perhaps be a bit more specific?"

"You know what I mean, Gideon. Her future. Tell me what happens next."

"I still think it may be unwise…"

"It's not. Show me."

* * *

Once Nannerl was immersed in the next round of her game, Nate waved Charlie over to him. "You know what?" he said, speaking barely above a whisper to avoid distracting Nannerl. "I really like wholesome Snart."

"Wholesome Snart?" Charlie repeated skeptically. "He's not another person, mate."

"I know that," Nate replied, "but it's still different than what we're used to seeing from him. It's like he's finally comfortable loosening up a little and not shutting everybody else out. This is great!"

"You're not wrong," Charlie agreed.

"But the thing is," Nate pointed out, "he's only going to be in babysitter mode until we get Nannerl home."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So if we want wholesome Snart to stick around," Nate concluded, "we need to encourage this side of him as much as possible until the rest of the team gets back. Whatever nice, wholesome stuff he wants to do, we need to get on board."

Charlie squinted at him doubtfully. "That might be taking it a little far, don't you think?"

"I said 'nice, wholesome stuff' only," he reminded her. "How could that go wrong? He's not going to do anything insane. He's too smart for that."

"Charlie, Nathaniel," Leonard said, suddenly stepping in through the doorway. "We need to talk." He moved back to the other side of the doorway, waiting for them.

Charlie and Nate looked at each other quizzically. "Encourage him," Nate reminded her.

"All right," Charlie said with a shrug. "Let's do it."

They stepped outside and joined Leonard. "I'm going to take Nannerl off the ship," he said.

"What?" Charlie and Nate reacted simultaneously, both shocked.

"Relax, I didn't mean permanently," Leonard clarified calmly. "Just for a little while. That girl's going to spend her whole childhood shoved into the spotlight, and then she's going to spend the rest of her life doing what other people want from her. This is the one day of her life when she can do what _she_ wants and be an actual kid for once. She deserves more than being stuck in one place." He straightened his posture and crossed his arms with a determined scowl. "I'm taking her back to see that arcade, and I plan to watch her like a hawk, but if you two think you're going to stop me…"

"Oh, we're not going to stop you," Nate quickly assured him.

Leonard arched his eyebrows, clearly not expecting that response. "You're not?"

"What's more wholesome than forming some fun childhood memories in an early 80s video game arcade?" Nate asked with a smile. "I think that's a great idea. I'm with you all the way."

Leonard stared at him suspiciously for a moment, still processing his enthusiastic approval. "Huh. Okay." He turned to Charlie. "What about you?"

"I…" she looked at Nate and saw him nodding his head and giving her a thumbs-up. "…yeah, I'm with you, too." She copied Nate's smile. "Why not, right?"

Leonard continued to study the two of them warily. "Well…good."

"Haha yeah," Nate said, now directing his thumbs-up at Leonard. "Good! Great. Super great. Let's have some arcade fun times…and he's doing it again," he said as Leonard walked straight past him and back into the parlor without another word.

"Hey, kid," Leonard said, approaching Nannerl and crouching down beside her. "You hanging in there all right?"

Nannerl nodded and grinned at him. "This game is really fun."

"What if I told you there's a place with a dozen games like that? Would you want to see it?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I want to see it. Is it on the ship, too?"

"No, but it's not far. Come on, I'll take you." He started to stand up, but noticed a slight wavering in her smile. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Yes," she replied. "I was just thinking about Wolfgang." She paused, then asked him, "You said I'll be able to go right back to him with barely any time passing, right? And that your other friends are making sure nothing bad happens to him while I'm here, no matter how long that is?"

"I did," Leonard confirmed. "And I meant it."

Her smile returned in full force. "Perfect!" She hopped to her feet. "Let's go! I've seen a hundred other impossible things today. I'd love to see one more." She skipped around him and out through the doorway into the bridge.

"Whoa there," he said with an amused smirk, walking out of the parlor at a leisurely pace behind her. "You don't know where you're going yet." She slowed down just enough to let him catch up with her. He looked over his shoulder at Charlie and Nate. "Stay or go, your choice," he told them.

"We're right behind you, Snart," Nate said eagerly. "Wouldn't miss it. Totally coming with you."

Charlie leaned in and whispered, "You're overselling it, mate."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Nate admitted. He realized that Snart and Nannerl were already almost out of sight. "Hey! Snart! Wait for us!" He and Charlie hurried after them.


	39. Two Missing Sisters

Gary looked at the notebook in his hand and crossed off one more location on his list. "Iron Heights – check," he said aloud to no one else. "Now onto…" He looked up at the sign a few feet ahead of him. "…Saints and Sinners." He tucked the notebook into his briefcase, took a breath to prepare himself, then said, "Here we go," and walked toward the entrance.

Inside, the lights were low, and it was slightly crowded, though not overwhelmingly so. A jukebox was playing music just quietly enough to remain part of the background. While he could not see any illicit dealings going on, Gary got the feeling that they weren't uncommon at this place. From the looks the patrons around the prominently placed pool table gave him, he could tell that they knew he wasn't a regular. He felt a little uneasy and tried to sneak over to the bar without drawing too much attention to himself. "Oh, bartender?" he called out in his best attempt at fitting in. "I'll have a beer, please. Uh…whichever kind you recommend most. I'm not picky." He felt more eyes on him and pulled the briefcase into his lap as he sat down on a stool beside the bar.

The bartender, a woman with dark hair and several tattoos on her arms, looked him over, then said, "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Just visiting the area," he said with an innocent smile. "I saw this place and thought I'd stop in for a drink."

"I figured," the bartender replied. "Most people here are regulars, but I haven't seen you around. One beer coming up." She turned around and walked to the other side of the bar to prepare Gary's drink.

Gary peered over his shoulder at the rest of the area, relieved that the attention on him was starting to fade away. There was a general vibe of seediness, but otherwise not much else he could discern. According to Snart's records, he had been known to visit this place occasionally, but that wasn't much to go on. There was also no way to tell if any of the people currently patronizing the club had been regulars three years earlier. _The bartender is my best shot_, Gary decided. _I can ask her how long she's been here without looking suspicious and, if it's longer than three years, I can go from there._

"Here you go," the bartender said, handing Gary a tall glass of beer.

"Thank you," Gary said. He took a sip, then asked, "What's your name, by the way?"

"Hannah," she answered.

"Nice to meet you, Hannah," Gary said. "You seem to know everyone around here. Have you been working here a long time?"

"You could say that," Hannah answered. "I've been here about five years, so, yeah, I pretty much know all the regulars by now."

_Perfect_, Gary thought. "Wow," he said. "Five years, huh? Have you met any interesting people here in that time?"

She nodded. "Sure. Lots."

"Like who?"

"Oh, you know. This is Central City. Crazy stuff happens all the time. People with superpowers are always walking around. One time, I saw a guy with a snake for an eyeball. At least, I think that's what it was."

"Okay…" That wasn't the most helpful answer. He tried to be a little more direct. "…so you've seen a lot of metas. I've heard some stories about metas fighting the Flash. Did you ever run into any of his enemies?"

She gave him a wary look. "Look, we don't ask what our customers do when they're not here. If their money's good, they're welcome, no other information needed."

"Of course," he said. "But I can't help being curious. I've heard a lot of stories about the Flash, and Central City, and metas, and also some non-metas like…oh, what's his name? Captain Cold?"

Hannah stared at Gary for a few moments, then shrugged. "Then you're hearing some old stories. Captain Cold died years ago."

"Maybe so," Gary said, once again not disputing Snart's alleged death, "but I do appreciate the stories anyway. You seem familiar with him. Was he a regular here, too?"

"Kind of," Hannah answered. "He didn't come in as often as most regulars do. Just once in a while. But like I said, the only questions I ever asked him were about his order. I mean, I knew who he was, but it wasn't any of my business." Another patron at the opposite end of the bar called her over. "Coming," she said as she hurried to help them.

Gary frowned. Hannah didn't seem like she was trying to hide anything. Whether that was true or not, she didn't seem like she was eager to share details about any customers, let alone Snart. As Gary pondered what to try next, he felt a finger lightly tap his shoulder.

He turned his head quickly and saw a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair standing beside him. She was wearing all black, from her leather jacket to her boots. The only contrasting color was in her earrings and nail polish, both of which were a shiny gold. "Hey, stranger," she said sweetly. "I couldn't help overhearing you asking about Captain Cold."

"Heh…yeah," Gary said, straightening his glasses. "I was doing that."

"You know he's dead, don't you?" the woman asked, inching a little closer to him. "It's a little late to become a fan."

"I was just curious," Gary said.

"And why's that?"

"I just have a few questions about him. Some things I want to know."

She rolled her eyes and smirked teasingly. "What are you, his biographer? I bet he would've loved that. People writing about him after he's gone. He always thought he was so cool."

"No, I'm just…hey, wait a second." Gary turned sideways to fully face her. "You really knew him, didn't you?"

"Guilty as charged," she said. She leaned sideways against the bar, bringing herself even closer to Gary. He could tell she was being flirtatious and tried to remind himself that he was on a mission. "You know," she said, "if you want to get out of here…I could tell you everything you want to know."

Gary looked at her skeptically. "Everything?"

She smirked again. "_Everything_."

_You are a Time Bureau agent_, Gary reminded himself. _This place is probably full of criminals. Don't fall for this without thinking it through._ "How do I know you're not lying?" he asked her.

"Well, that hurts," she said, "but I promise you, I knew Leonard Snart better than anybody else did when he was alive."

"Prove it," Gary said. "Tell me something only somebody close to him would know."

She looked him straight in the eyes and, without even a moment's hesitation, stated, "Born June 2, 1972 at Central City Hospital, his best friend was Mick Rory, his favorite color was blue, he liked baseball better than football, he aced every math class he ever took, he watched Shark Week religiously, he had a massive sweet tooth, he always wanted a dog growing up but never got one…and that's as much as you're getting from me in here."

Gary thought for a second, then said, "Okay. I'm convinced."

She smiled sweetly. "I thought so." She nodded toward the backdoor. "Meet you outside." She strolled slowly out through the back exit, glancing back at him as she slipped through the door.

Gary paid his bill, then hurried after her. He reached the backdoor, stepped through it, and let it close behind him. He spotted her standing against the wall and said, "All right, we're outside. Now, what did you want to say about Snart?"

"That he wasn't as gullible as you are, apparently," she said, suddenly sounding much less sweet. She pulled off the blonde wig on her head, exposing wavy, dark brown hair.

"Wait a minute," Gary said, taking a step back, "you're not blonde? Who are – oof!"

She pulled a black gun-like weapon from behind her back and hit him in the head with its handle, knocking him out. She looked down at him, then rolled her eyes in disgust. "No offense, but this was far from my most difficult kidnapping. You could've at least made it a challenge." She dragged him to a nearby van and shoved him in the back, then climbed into the driver's seat and drove away.

* * *

Nannerl stared wide-eyed, her mouth gaping as she took in the sights surrounding her inside the mall's video game arcade. Kids and teens gathered around brightly lit games, and the whole area was full of colorful images, flashing lights, and strange sounds coming from both the effects of the games themselves and the upbeat 80s pop music playing in the background. "Whoa," she breathed. She looked up at Snart, who was standing beside her. "I've never seen anything like it."

"And what do you think?" Snart asked her.

She looked around the room, then back up at him. "It looks like magic."

"You could say that again," Nate commented, standing on the other side of her, with Charlie following slightly behind him. "I haven't seen so many classic games in one place in…well, at least since I was super little."

She pointed at a game near the entrance. "What's that?"

"That," Nate answered with a grin, "is a little game called _Donkey Kong_. It's pretty iconic."

Nannerl pointed to another game a little bit farther away. "And that?"

"_Frogger_," Nate answered.

"And that?" she asked, running forward a few paces to point to another game.

"_Q*bert_." He let out a low whistle. "Man, this is like a whole room of pure nostalgia. Don't you guys just love it?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Eh, nostalgia gets pretty pointless when you're immortal. Every decade's a bit overrated from what I've seen."

"Shh," Nate hushed her. "Don't ruin this for me." He spotted Nannerl and Snart walking over to a nearby game. "Ooh, is that the original _Mario Bros._?" he asked as he and Charlie followed them. "Awesome!"

Nannerl looked up at the blinking, pixelated screen, then at the controls. "How does it work?" she asked.

"Well," Nate started to explain, "first, you need to get some coins to pay for the game. Usually quarters. Let me see if I have any…" He started fumbling through his pockets.

"Forget it, Nathaniel," Leonard said, producing a brown wallet from his jacket. He took out a small stack of quarters and handed them to Nannerl. "This should get you through a few games."

Nate looked at the wallet suspiciously. "Um…did you just steal that?"

Leonard shrugged. "It won't be missed. There was barely anything in it."

"Okay, but when?" Nate asked confusedly. "We walked here in, like, five minutes. Maybe less. I didn't even see you brush up against anybody." He looked back at Charlie and gestured toward Snart. "Did you see him take it?"

"Nope," she replied, shaking her head.

"That's kind of the point, isn't it?" Snart said. "Anyway…" He turned to Nannerl. "…you want to try this one out? Put one of those coins in that slot and see what happens."

Nannerl did as he said. The screen brightened and pixelated characters appeared on the screen. She gasped, then turned to Leonard while pointing at the screen, "Look! Look at that!"

He nodded, amusement all over his face. "I see. Why don't you push that button right there and try playing the game?" He pointed to the start button.

She stared at the screen for a second, then tentatively pressed the button, starting the game. It wasn't long before she was fully immersed in it, though her first attempt was a short one. When the "Game Over" signal flashed across the screen, she frowned until a determined look took over her small face. "I bet I can win if I play again," she said. She looked to Leonard for approval. "Can I play again?"

"You can play as many times as you want, kid," he assured her.

She smiled and inserted another quarter, restarting the game.

* * *

"What now, you bloody genius?" John asked Mona as the tiny musician grinned at them.

"Hey, I thought using magic to save kids was, like, your thing," Mona said defensively.

"From demons, love. Not in frivolous ways like this."

Wolfgang pointed at John, interrupting their argument. "You're a magician! That was real magic!"

John forced a smile. "Quite an eye you've got there." He muttered to Mona quietly, "Call the Legends. Now."

Before she had a chance to respond, Wolfgang ran to John and tugged on his coat, surprising him. "Do it again! I want to see the magic again!"

"Uh…I don't think so," John said, attempting to gently remove the boy's hands from his clothes.

"Please!" Wolfgang begged. "Just one more time?" He pouted and clasped his fingers together pleadingly. "Please, please, please, please…"

"Well," Mona pointed out, "at least he's being polite about it."

John sighed exasperatedly. "Still a no, Mona. I've never kept my abilities a secret, nor do I think I should have to, but magic can have serious consequences and shouldn't be used carelessly. Besides, exposing him to more magic than necessary will only further complicate things at this point. The only thing that's going to help him now is getting his sister back. We need to go."

"No!" Wolfgang exclaimed, running behind them to block the door with his small frame. "Don't go yet. I really want to see the magic."

"You already saw it," John reminded him. "I think that was enough for one day, don't you?"

"Please," the boy begged again. "Just a little bit more. I'll do anything. I'll practice all my pieces and play them all perfectly. Please show me more magic!"

Mona shot John a glance. "You'll practice all your pieces, you say?" she asked Wolfgang, though she still looked at John.

"Yes," the boy answered. "Every single one. Just show me more magic. Please!"

John squinted warily at her. "Mona…"

"Look," Mona argued, "it's perfect. You show him a few harmless tricks. He goes back to playing music like he's supposed to until the Legends show up with his sister. Problem solved. History is saved."

"It's not that simple, love."

"But it could be." She bent over as far as she could in her gown to look Wolfgang in the eyes. "If he shows you more magic, do you promise to practice for tonight and perform all your pieces like you're supposed to?"

"Yes," Wolfgang nodded eagerly. "I do. I promise."

John rolled his eyes. "You're buying this? He's a six-year-old who just discovered that magic is real. He'll say anything right now."

Mona pointed toward John's chest, roughly aiming for his heart. "But, if you think about it, isn't the real magic the love of music that was inside us all along?"

John stared blankly at her for a beat, then answered. "No. No, it quite literally isn't."

"Aw, but Constantine," Mona said, mimicking Wolfgang's puppy pout as she moved to stand supportively beside the boy. "Are you really going to say no to this face?"

Constantine found himself trapped by their dual pleading gazes. "Stop," he said grumpily. "That…that won't work. Stop it." Neither of them stopped. If anything, they pouted harder. "I said stop. You're not going to…I'm not falling for…"

"_Please_?" Wolfgang asked as sweetly and innocently as he could.

Constantine closed his eyes and muttered, "Bollocks. Why did you Legends have to make me go soft? You're bloody awful influences, the lot of you." He opened his eyes and stepped back toward the center of the room. "Just one trick. That's all you're getting. Just the one. And you'd better practice everything right after. No excuses."

* * *

Gary opened his eyes and sat up with a jolt. "Whoa!" He found himself tied to a chair, though otherwise unharmed. Studying his surroundings, he realized that he was inside what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. "How did I…"

"Get here?" a woman's voice finished for him.

He turned to look at the source of the voice and recognized the dark-haired woman from earlier. "You!" he exclaimed. "You kidnapped me."

"Glad you didn't suffer any memory loss," she replied calmly. "That would really suck for me."

"Listen," Gary warned, "I work for some important people, so if you know what's good for you, you'll let me go."

"Oh, you mean…" She pulled a wallet that Gary recognized as his out of her jacket pocket and thumbed through its contents. "…the FBI? The Department of Defense? A.R.G.U.S.?" She set the wallet down on the table behind her. "Quite a few connections you've got there. But something tells me with that many IDs, none of them are the whole truth. Isn't that right, Gary? If that is your real name." She looked him over for a second, then added, "Actually, I'd buy it. You look like a Gary."

Gary glared at her in an attempt to hide how anxious he really felt. "Well…I…I'm not hiding anything. But even if I were, I wouldn't tell you." He looked around the warehouse again, then back at her. "Why did you bring me here? What do you want with me?"

"Oh, calm down," she replied. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just have some questions."

Gary raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wait…_you_ have questions for _me_?"

"No, I just dragged you out here and tied you up for a hilarious prank," she answered sarcastically. She chuckled at her own joke, then added more earnestly, "Seriously, though. I need you to tell me a few things."

"I'm not telling you anything," Gary said. "I…I won't. I don't care what you do to me."

"I said I wasn't going to hurt you, dummy," she reminded. "I literally just want to talk. That's it." She leaned back against the table, crossed her arms, and asked him, "Who sent you to ask around about Leonard Snart?"

"That's classified," Gary answered immediately.

"Classified?" she repeated skeptically.

"Yes. Yes, it's…it's classified. None of your business."

"Actually, it's very much my business. But we can always get back to it. I've got plenty more questions than just that one." She shrugged, then continued, "Why the sudden interest in a dead man? Or is that 'classified,' too?"

"It is," Gary said, forcing himself to sound confident.

"Oh, great. This is getting interesting, then. Does this have something to do with the Legends and time travel?"

Gary froze in shock. "T…time travel?" he asked with exaggerated incredulity. "There's no such thing as time travel."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Gary, cut the crap. I know what the Waverider is, I know who the Legends are, and I know that time travel exists. I know all of that the same way I know that Leonard Snart died on a Legends mission to save the future from some immortal psycho." Her face clouded for a second as she mentioned Snart's death. "He sacrificed himself. Died in his best friend's place. I bet people were really shocked by that, but they shouldn't have been. He was never the monster everybody thought he was." She focused on Gary again. "And something tells me you wouldn't be snooping around his old whereabouts so much if you didn't know at least some of that story. So let's try this again. Who sent you here, and why do you want to know about Leonard Snart?"

* * *

"Dude," Nate said, elbowing Charlie, "isn't wholesome Snart the best?"

Charlie smiled and nodded. "He certainly is more fun than usual."

"Remember, whatever happens, we have to encourage the wholesomeness," Nate said. "It's going way too well to stop now. I mean, come on, just look at them."

The two of them watched Leonard escort Nannerl to the next game that caught her eye. "Ooh, what's this one?" she asked, studying the words on the screen. "_Star Wars_? What does that mean?"

"It means you get to fly a spaceship and shoot lasers," Leonard answered.

Nannerl's eyes widened. "Like your ship?"

"Not exactly, but close enough."

She smiled. "Then I definitely want to try it." She inserted one of her few remaining quarters and activated the game.

As she focused on the screen, Leonard positioned himself strategically against the wall the machine stood closest to. From there, he could see almost every angle that someone could approach from. Measuring with his eyes, he figured out exactly how many seconds it would take for them to leave in any direction case something went wrong. He kept a watchful eye on the open area in front of him, occasionally glancing sideways at Nannerl to make sure she was still safe and in place.

Nate and Charlie moved closer to join him near the wall. "So," Nate said, trying to start a conversation, "this is fun. Isn't this fun?"

Leonard raised his eyebrows, but gave no verbal response.

Charlie jumped in. "Oh, yeah. Super fun. Loads of fun."

"What a great idea," Nate continued. "We should have fun like this together more often. Right, Snart?"

Leonard eyed each of them suspiciously, then waited a moment before answering, "You two are acting very weird right now."

"Psh!" Nate denied. "No, we're not."

"Eh," Charlie said with a shrug. "No more than usual. The Legends aren't exactly known for being normal."

Leonard's face broke into a slight smirk at her remark. "You could say that again." He looked past them to continue watching the area cautiously.

"Seriously, though," Nate said, "this is awesome." He grinned and leaned slightly forward toward Leonard, "Want to go a couple rounds with me on _Pacman_? It's been a while since I played with someone other than Zari."

"Wouldn't want to make your girlfriend jealous, would I?" Leonard drawled dryly.

Nate tried to clarify, "What? No, I didn't mean…"

"Relax, I'm kidding. But I already told you, I'm not that into video games. I wasn't one of those kids."

"And what kind of kid were you, then?" Charlie asked.

"The kind that pickpocketed the video game kids," Leonard replied. "You wouldn't believe how easy it is to go through someone's backpack when their eyes are glued to one of these things." He pointed his thumb at the game Nannerl was playing.

Nate stared at him for a second. He hadn't expected that answer. "Um…okay, then."

Leonard noted his reaction and said calmly, "Nathaniel, the sooner you realize that I'm not one of your goody-two-shoes superhero friends, the better off we're all going to be. Got it?"

"Uh…yeah. Yeah, I got it," Nate said reluctantly.

While the adults were talking amongst themselves, Nannerl finished one round of her game and prepared to start another. "Wow," a voice behind her said. "That's a good score."

She turned around quickly in surprise and saw a boy around her own age. "It is?" she asked.

The boy nodded. "How long have you been playing this one?" he asked.

"Just today."

"Really? You just started? You're a natural." He took a step closer to her. "I'm Jake, by the way. What's your name?"

"Uh…Maria Anna. But everyone calls me Nannerl."

"Huh. Interesting name." He held out the box of candy in his hand. "Gummy worm?"

"Gummy…worm?" she repeated, trying to make sense of the question.

"Yeah, you can have some if you want." He pulled a worm out of the box and put it in his mouth. "Try one," he suggested as he chewed.

Nannerl glanced back at Snart for just a second, then took a gummy worm out of the box and ate it. "Mm…they're good," she said.

Jake nodded, looked up at the game's title, then asked, "You like _Star Wars_, huh?"

"Oh. Um…I think so."

"Nice." He nodded backward toward a group of boys and girls on the other side of the room. "My friends and I are trying to catch _Return of the Jedi_ in a little bit. Next show's at four-thirty. Want to come with us?"

Nannerl had no idea what that meant. "_Return of the Jedi_?"

"Yeah. _Star Wars_. You know, the movies? Like the game you were just playing? Don't tell me you got a score that high and you don't know _Star Wars_."

Nannerl glanced back at the game. "Yeah. Yeah, I know _Star Wars_." She looked back at him. "And your friends wouldn't mind?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

She grinned. "Then I think I'd like that."

"Cool. We're going to head over about ten minutes before the movie starts. Meet you there!" He walked away to inform his friend group that they'd gained a new member.

Nannerl was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, though she also had many questions. She looked over at Snart and saw that he was still talking to Nate and Charlie. She decided to save her questions – specifically what a movie was, what it had to do with _Star Wars_, and whether she was allowed to go to one – for a moment longer. Meanwhile, she was going to see if she could get an even higher score.

* * *

"You guys really think the rift is here?" Ray asked as he followed the rest of the team through the school's mostly empty parking lot. "Judging by the lack of panicked teachers, it doesn't seem like anyone else has noticed it."

"It's also after hours," Sara pointed out. "Plus, the rift could have shown up in an unused room or something." As they approached the main classroom building, Sara held up a hand to signal them to stop. "First, everybody check comms. We need to know if we're on the right track."

All four of them activated their comms units.

"Testing," Ray said. "Nora, Mick, Sara, do you copy?"

Nora listened for a second. "Nope."

"I only hear your mouth," Mick answered.

"Same," Sara said. "That means we're close." She attempted to pull the doors of the main building open, but found they were locked. "Nora," she said, stepping aside, "will you do the honors?"

"My pleasure," Nora said. She stepped forward and whispered a few magic words. The doors swung open on their own.

"Thanks," Sara said, walking inside.

"Good job, babe," Ray said with a proud smile as he followed his captain.

Mick followed after Ray. "Should take you thieving sometime," he said.

"Uh…I'm going to pass on that one," Nora replied as she stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

They found themselves in an empty hallway lined with lockers. There were doors leading to classrooms interspersed along each wall, as well as bulletin boards featuring announcements, signup sheets, and flyers.

"Ah, middle school," Sara said as she looked around. "The most uncomfortable time of anyone's life."

"Speak for yourself," Ray replied cheerfully. "I loved it. I got so many science fair trophies. My eighth-grade chemistry teacher was one of my best friends ever. I hung out in his room every lunch period. I still don't understand why nobody else did that."

Mick opened his mouth to mock Ray, but he shut it after catching a warning glare from Nora. "Uh…the rift," he quickly said instead. "We need to find it. Where is it?"

"We're going to have to split up if we want to cover everything," Sara said, "but we can't wander off too far without comms. Ray, do you still have the temporal energy gun?"

Ray patted the pocket of his jacket, where the shrunken-down gun was located. "Got it right here, Captain."

"Perfect," Sara replied. "You and Nora take downstairs. Mick and I will take upstairs. If you two find the rift first, shut it down. If not, we'll rendezvous on that staircase," she said, pointing at the end of the hallway. "We'll let you know if we found it when we get there. If none of us saw it on either floor, we can check outside the building, like in the gym or by the lunch tables. Everyone okay with that?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ray said.

"Yep," Nora agreed. "You two go on upstairs. Ray and I have this floor covered."

"Great," Sara said. "Mick, come on." She led him toward the staircase and up to the second floor of the building.

Once Sara and Mick were upstairs, Nora and Ray began to walk through the various hallways of the first floor. The classroom doors each had small rectangular windows, allowing them to peek inside each one. Room after room, there was no sign of a rift.

"Ooh," Ray said as he looked into the window of a science classroom. "Nora, look at this. I think I found the geometry room." Nora joined him at the window, wondering what was so exciting about that. "There are still equations written on the chalkboard," Ray pointed out. "Man, I remember doing those. Really brings back memories."

"Good ones?" Nora asked.

"Oh, absolutely. Geometry was a close second after chemistry."

"Uh-huh." Nora backed away from the door and began wandering farther down the hallway. "Well, I'm sure it was better than what I was doing at that age, at least." She noticed a windowless door with a sign indicating that it led to the teachers' lounge. "Want to check in this one?"

"Sure."

"Okay. One second." She used the same spell from before and the door handle turned on its own, slowly opening to reveal the inside of the teachers' lounge.

They stepped inside and began looking around the room. While Ray examined the tables and chairs in the center, Nora inspected the shelves of books and magazines along the wall. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her head. "Ow!" she exclaimed.

Ray froze and looked at her immediately. "Babe? You okay?"

"Yes. No. I don't know." She rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to soothe the pain. "It's going away, but I felt something. Something like Mallus and…" She gasped and she looked at Ray, eyes wide with concern. "…the dark dimension. It felt like when they opened the dark dimension."

"What?" Ray stepped closer to her. "What do you mean?"

Nora kept one hand on her head, still slightly feeling the pain. She closed her eyes. "It's…it's coming from this way." She opened her eyes and walked slowly and cautiously out the door.

"Nora? Nora, wait!" Ray said, jogging to catch up to her. "I don't want you getting hurt."

She took her hand off her head. "It doesn't hurt. Whatever happened went by fast. But we need to know what it was." She closed her eyes again, murmured a spell, then opened them and pointed across the hall. "There. It's coming from there."

She opened the door with her magic and revealed a music classroom that appeared to be used for band practice. The lights were off, and it appeared completely empty. She stepped inside and looked around while Ray remained in the doorway. "I sense something here, Ray," she said as she examined the area. "Something dark. I don't know what, but…"

"I do," said a man's voice from the shadows.

Nora spun around and found herself face-to-face with Paul Christian. "You!" She took a step back and prepared to run out of the small room. Paul threw a blast of green flames past her. It filled the doorway and threw Ray backward into the hallway. "Ray!" she exclaimed.

"Nora!" Ray said as he scrambled to his feet. Before he could get inside the room, Paul sent another blast of green fire at him, this time strong enough to fill the hallway and force him farther away. He then snapped his fingers and shut the door.

Nora glared at Paul. "How are you here?" she demanded. "You should be in the present or the dark dimension. Nowhere else."

Paul held up a familiar-looking stone with an ancient symbol carved into it. "Did you really think your father had the only time stone in the world?"

Nora didn't wait for any further explanation. She held up one hand and used her powers to lift him off the ground. "You're not getting away from me this time," she told him. "Tell me what you're doing here."

"Good question." Paul remained in the air for a moment, then broke free from her grasp with his own magic and sent another green blast at Nora. She tried to duck behind something, but was instead thrown backward, crashing into a large number of music stands. "I'm afraid I can't answer it, though. I've got to get going."

Nora jumped to her feet and threw one more blast of magic energy at Paul. He dodged it, then waved his arms, throwing her back with an invisible force into the far wall of the room. "Maybe we can have a better talk next time," he said just before disappearing in a cloud of green smoke.

Outside the classroom, Ray shielded his face as he wove through the magic green flames still burning along the ground. They began to disappear just as he reached the door. He forced the door open, spotted Nora, and ran to her. "Nora!" he shouted. He crouched down on the ground beside her. "Nora, are you okay? Did he hurt you? Where did he go?"

"I'm okay," Nora assured him as he put his arms around her comfortingly. "Just wasn't expecting him to be so powerful. It must be the state of the timeline." She paused, then continued, "He had a time stone. He came here for something important, I'm sure, but he wouldn't say what."

"Does it have to do with the rift?" Ray asked.

"Maybe." Her eyes widened as she had a realization. "Maybe, but it could be something much worse. I don't know what his plan is, but whatever it is, he needs the barrier between dimensions to remain weak in order to keep hopping back and forth like this and continue to draw power from the timeline's instability. That means it's in his interest to keep the timeline from being repaired." She looked Ray directly in the eyes. "And if that's the case, then Nannerl could be in serious danger."


End file.
